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Photo Gallery: Kanye West
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Kanye West has won a lawsuit against another songwriter who accused him of stealing his lyrics for his single 'Stronger' by arguing that his words were actually borrowed from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Vincent Peters initially filed a claim for copyright theft against West in 2010 and alleged that the rapper had copied his 2006 song, also called 'Stronger', after he gave a copy of the track to the hip-hop star's manager John Monopoly.

West's lawyers contested the claim by arguing that both artists' songs were actually influenced by the work of 19th century intellectual Nietzsche, and in particular his famous maxim: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

Peters' initial claim was rejected by a federal judge which led him to launch an appeal with the US 7th Circuit Court Of Appeals but, according to MTV, Judge Diane Wood rejected his claim after ruling that the two songs didn't sound similar enough.

Wood also ruled that too many other songs had been influenced by Nietzsche's famous saying for Peters' claim to be successful, and cited Kelly Clarkson's 2011 track 'What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)' to support her argument.

"Although the fact that both songs quote from a 19th century German philosopher might, at first blush, seem to be an unusual coincidence, West correctly notes that the aphorism has been repeatedly invoked in song lyrics over the past century," Wood said. "Notably, an even more recent popular song — one that held the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 chart [Clarkson's song] at about the same time as oral arguments in this case — also shares this key feature with both West's and Vince P's songs."

Earlier this month (August 21), it was reported that Kanye West was being lined up for ajudging position on American Idol. The rapper also recently postponed the releaseof his G.O.O.D. Music compilation album, 'Cruel Summer', by two weeks. The LP was previously supposed to come out in early August and was then delayed until September 4. It has now been put back again until September 18.

[Edited 8/27/12 21:41pm]

I guess both of them got put on blast.

Nietzsche is one of my favorite thinkers of all time. Kanye West is one of

the biggest bags of douche of all time.

a thief(kanye west)will always find a way out of a pickle i dont see how people find him interesting or appealing i am so in like of him being banished 2 the land of lou lou and never returning

aardvark15 said:

Don't hate on somebody who's done something you can't

Bad argument.

I can't bake for shit; but I certainly know when someone's German chocolate cake

tastes like ass.

duccichucka said:

aardvark15 said:

duccichucka said:

Bad argument.

I can't bake for shit; but I certainly know when someone's German chocolate cake

tastes like ass.

Baking is completely different than music.

Hmmm...why?

No, it's not. Why? Because baking involves conceiving a concept of how you can

present that concept (in this case, a cake) in such a manner where one or more of

your senses are being stimulated due to that person's creativity as it is applied to

that concept (the cake) as something capable of expression. How do you think people

come up with all those different ideas for the various cupcakes, cakes and cookies?

Bakers are just as creative as musicians.

The argument is this: You don't have to be an expert at doing something in order to

criticize it. I don't have to know how to make a beat and rap in order to say "I don't

like Kanye West and I think he sucks."!

EDIT: I had to change the "to you..." to "do you..."

[Edited 8/29/12 8:52am]

The older I get the more similarities I have noticed between cooking and making music. They're both about texture, variation and stimulating the listener / eater in various ways.

BUT... any yahoo should be able to make decent and even delicious food just by following a recipe. That's really not the case when creating a piece of music.

Eh, hes a douche but he makes a mighty fine album. People hate him because of the stupid shit he's said and his unfortunate auto tune experiment album (and some horrible guest features). People forget that he was and still is the critics golden boy and deservdly so.

[Edited 8/29/12 15:54pm]

Cruel Summer now out two days before the first day of Autumn.