German singer-songwriter Alice Merton is suing Kanye West (Ye) for copyright infringement, accusing him of sampling her song, “Blindside,” without authorization on the ¥$ (Ye and Ty Dolla $ign) track “Gun to My Head.”
According to the lawsuit, filed in California District Court earlier this week and obtained by Rolling Stone, West first teased “Gun to My Head” at an early Vultures listening event in December 2023. The song garnered particular attention at the time for featuring Kid Cudi, marking Ye and Cudi’s first collaboration in several years.
According to the suit, “Gun to My Head” sampled a segment of “Blindside” that “spans most of the entire song’s baseline melody,” as well as “vocal recordings of the opening lyric line… ‘I sat down with a gun to my head.’”
When “Gun to My Head” was first played in public, Ye had allegedly not yet contacted Merton about clearing the sample. The suit says Merton was “shocked and humiliated” when websites began posting about “Blindside” being featured in the song, along with claims that “Gun to the Head” was a “collaboration” with Ye, Kid Cudi, and Merton.
“Gun to My Head” did not appear on the first Vultures album, released Feb. 8, 2024, but appeared poised to feature on Vultures 2. On Feb. 15, the suit alleges, Ye (via the clearance company Alien Music Services) reached out to rights management giant BMG to clear the “Blindside” sample. That request was forwarded to Merton a few weeks later in early March.
The lawsuit says that on March 7, 2024, Merton “replied to BMG, denying [Ye’s] request,” but did not give a reason. When BMG asked why Merton rejected the clearance, she and her team replied that West’s “values are contrary to our values.”
To that end, the suit specifically mentions Ye’s numerous anti-semitic remarks. “Merton is a German resident who has close ties to the holocaust through Jewish family members who survived its horrors, and as such feels closely connected to it,” the suit reads.
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It also notes that while Merton knew the sample could “potentially bring in significant revenue,” she was “unwilling to compromise her personal beliefs and wanted not to be associated with Ye in any manner.”
When Vultures 2 arrived in August 2024, “Gun to My Head” was not included on the official track list. It did, however, get a brief release on a digital deluxe version of the album, though it appears that “Gun to My Head” has since been removed from most streaming services.
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It is, however, still widely available in bootlegged versions, and Merton’s suit appears to reference those, saying that “unauthorized recordings of Ye playing the song at listening parties” frequently appeared online. It also alleges that when the track did not make the Vultures 2 cut, Ye’s fans “blamed Merton for not authorizing” the sample and even sent her “death threats and abuse.”
Merton is seeking injunctive relief and unspecified damages. A lawyer for Ye did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
