Home > News & Reviews > Kanye West

Kanye West Stole 'Stronger' Lyrics From Nietzsche, Not Peters
Wednesday, 23 November 2011 Written by Elliott Batte
Kanye West Stole 'Stronger' Lyrics From Nietzsche, Not Peters

After being brought to court over the rights to his song ‘Stronger’, Kanye West has hit back at the songwriter claiming he had stolen his lyrics – by saying the lyrics were stolen directly from German philosopher and poet Friedrich Nietzsche.

Virginia-born songwriter Vincent Peters filed the lawsuit a year ago, telling judges that ‘Stronger’ was a blatant copy of his song of the same name. The two tracks do share some similarities - both refer to Nietzsche’s idea of "that which does not kill us makes us stronger” and both happen to refer to model Kate Moss (as well as the obviously never-before used rhyme of ‘stronger’ with ‘longer’) – but a federal judge ruled that the two weren’t identical enough to sue for ownership rights.

But, not taking no for an answer, Peters appealed the decision and is now attempting to take on West for the second time. Unfortunately for Peters, West can afford some of the smartest and most intelligent lawyers there are, and it doesn’t look likely that Peters will be getting a slice of West’s extremely lucrative ‘Stronger’ pie.

Kanye’s lawyers have highlighted many a point as to why the song is not a copy of Peter’s 2006 track, including the more than reasonable idea that the “plaintiff cannot claim ownership of the name 'Kate Moss’”. They then went on to explain that any other similarities between the two songs have not been stolen from Peters, and actually Nietzsche himself.

“Indeed, with the exception of one lyrical similarity (a reference to the 'Supermodel' Kate Moss, which is not copyrightable), the remaining alleged similarities all concededly derive from a century-old maxim by Friedrich Nietzsche, a maxim that, as the district court found, 'enjoyed a robust existence in the public domain.'”

And if that wasn’t enough of a blow for Peters’ case, West’s lawyers went onto suggest that the move to sue Kanye now instead of back in 2007 was simply an attempt to hinder the advertisement of West’s new album with Jay-Z ‘Watch the Throne’.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!


Let Us Know Your Thoughts




Related News

No related news to show
 
< Prev   Next >