(AllHipHop News) Rap star Kanye West is being accused of skipping out on several depositions in relation to a claim the Bible-thumping rapper stole a kid’s prayer and used it without permission.
Andrew Green and Shirley Green say Kanye never had permission to license their adopted four-year-old’s prayer, which was integrated into the first 28-seconds of his song “Ultralight Beam” from the rapper’s#### album The Life of Pablo.
The Green’s are the legal guardians of a minor named “N.G.” and another child named Andreia Green. They maintain Kanye stole the little girl’s prayer called “4-Year-old Natalie Praying for us” from social media.
Kanye’s lawyers have rejected any wrongdoing since the copyright for the prayer was not registered until after Kanye commercially released “Ultralight Beam” and The Life of Pablo.
Furthermore, Kanye’s attorneys assert the recording was actually filmed by the girl’s biological mom, Alice T. Johnson, who used her mobile phone to record the girl “praying over” Andreia and then uploaded the clip to Instagram.
Kanye did ask Johnson for permission to use the clip and offered to pay $1,000, but she rejected the low amount and an agreement was never reached. Plus, the Green’s say Johnson has no legal standing to license the clip anyway since she is not the girl’s legal guardian.
“[N.G. and] Andreia have publicity rights in the commercial use of their voices as sampled in Mr. West’s song, along with certain copyrights in their performance as recorded,” according to the Green’s lawyer, Jason Scott Luck.
“In addition, N has acquired by signed, written agreement all copyrights of the recording of N ‘s and Andreia’s performance from Alice Johnson a/k/a Carmin Johnson. Ms. Johnson is the person who recorded the video of N ‘s and Andreia’s performance that Mr. West sampled,” according to Luck.
A few days ago, the Green’s grumbled to the court that Kanye has skipped out on three different depositions, so they are asking a judge to force the rap star into court on August 21st.
The Green’s claim Kanye has avoided the sit down for over seven months now, and that the rapper has just flat out refused to cooperate.
To be fair, Kanye’s lawyers warned the Greens that he would be difficult to pin down due to his schedule, which is booked months in advance.
The Chicago rapper isn’t really hiding either.
Ye has been busy taking on President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, in the 2020 race for the White House.
According to reports Kanye is currently holed up in a bunker on his ranch in Wyoming surrounded by security after a rambling speech at his kickoff campaign rally in South Carolina over the weekend.
