Kanye West Denies Stealing 'Stronger' Lyrics, Claims They Were Inspired by Nietzsche
Kanye West stopped riffing on the academic theme after his first three albums but it appears he has not thrown out his schoolbooks just yet, claiming to have been influenced by 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche when penning the lyrics for 'Stronger.'
The rapper's legal team revealed his inspiration for the multi-platinum 2007 single as part of an ongoing court case in which Virginia songwriter Vincent Peters claims to have had one of his recordings plagiarised.
Peters claims West stole multiple sections of the chorus to the track, which he produced in 2006 and later passed on to the rapper's business manager, including the first line: "What don't kill me makes me stronger." However, West's lawyers say Stronger is based on Nietzche's original, century-old maxim, which no-one can lay a claim to.
A federal judge already dismissed Peters' claim earlier this year, but the decision was appealed.
Speaking on the case, Kanye's attorney Carrie Hall said: "It would create a dangerously low threshold for establishing copyright protection over otherwise commonplace words and phrases."
Comments
Post a Comment