Kanye West, now known as Ye, is once again facing legal trouble over unlicensed sampling, this time tied to a video capturing his notorious 2013 clash with a paparazzo. The celebrity photo agency Bauer-Griffin filed suit Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that Ye, French Montana, and several collaborators lifted audio from that confrontation for use in the 2024 track "Where They At," which appeared on Montana's project Mac & Cheese 5.
The footage in question dates back to May 2013, when West was caught on camera storming toward a photographer outside a Los Angeles restaurant, unleashing a profanity-laced demand that he stop taking pictures. Kim Kardashian, pregnant at the time, was also present during the altercation. According to the lawsuit, that same audio was lifted and placed prominently at the start of Montana's song, a use the complaint characterizes as deliberate and knowing copyright infringement.
Attorneys for Bauer-Griffin argue that the incident carried real newsworthy value given West's pattern of run-ins with photographers over the years, and they contend listeners would instantly recognize the sampled audio as coming directly from the viral clip.
This isn't new territory for Ye, who has now been hit with sampling-related lawsuits more than a dozen times throughout his career, including a closely watched dispute involving the estate of Donna Summer. Just this past May, a jury ruled against him in a separate case concerning an uncleared sample used in an earlier version of "Hurricane," the Grammy-winning single from Donda. During that trial, Ye testified that he tries to be fair about crediting and compensating others, while also suggesting he's frequently taken advantage of by people seeking payouts.
Bauer-Griffin's complaint pushes back hard against any suggestion that "Where They At" was created in good faith, asserting that the song's creators fully understood the legal requirement to license any sampled audio before commercial release. The suit's attorneys note that copyright practices are common knowledge within the music business, framing the alleged infringement as inexcusable given that understanding.
Beyond the two artists, the lawsuit also targets producers Dem Jointz and BoogzDaBeast, along with record label Gamma and its distribution arm, Vydia.
The 2013 restaurant incident was actually one of two paparazzi confrontations West found himself in that year. A separate altercation two months later, involving photographer Daniel Ramos at LAX, led to a civil assault lawsuit that West ultimately settled just before it was set to go to trial two years afterward.
The case underscores a legal reality many celebrities have run into: appearing in a photo or video doesn't grant any ownership rights over that footage, since those rights typically belong to whoever created it. That principle has fueled similar disputes involving stars like Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, and Dua Lipa, who have all faced lawsuits after reposting paparazzi images without licensing them.
It remains unclear exactly who filmed the original 2013 confrontation, which took place just minutes after West was separately caught on camera walking into a street sign while trying to dodge photographers outside the same Beverly Hills area.
Regardless, Bauer-Griffin has held the rights to the footage since it first surfaced, with TMZ's original 2013 post bearing the agency's watermark. The lawsuit alleges the song has since been distributed widely across streaming platforms in violation of those ownership rights.
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