Kanye West makes ‘N*ggas in Paris’ joke in the courtroom
Kanye West made a joke about ‘N*ggas in Paris’ in the courtroom this week.
Ye testified in a Los Angeles federal court on May 6th as part of a Donda copyright trial, in which he’s accused of using an uncleared sample on the song ‘Hurricane’.
According to Billboard, Kanye cracked a joke on the stand in relation to his Watch the Throne song, ‘N*ggas in Paris’.
When his lawyer asked if he won a Grammy for ‘Brothers in Paris’, he replied, “What’s the real name?” which prompted laughter in the courtroom.
‘N*ggas in Paris’, a collaboration with Jay-Z, was released in 2011 and reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In terms of the ‘Hurricane‘ lawsuit, producers DJ Khalil, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease allege that Ye used a sample of their ‘MSD PT2’ track in a demo version of ‘Hurricane’ that was played during a listening party at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in July 2021.
In court, Kanye claimed the suit is baseless because he tried to clear the sample, but the producers refused to approve industry-standard splits.
“We went through the normal process to get it taken care of,” he said. “I pride myself on giving people what they deserve. I feel like a lot of people try to take advantage of me.”
He continued, “As I sit in this courtroom today, I just think people are trying to make more than they otherwise would because it’s me.”
‘Hurricane’ features The Weeknd and Lil Baby and reached number six on the Hot 100, while winning a Grammy for ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’. It has nearly half a billion streams on Spotify.