Kanye West and the plagiarism suit

[Victor Steinbok]

  Kanye West has been sued by a Virginia rapper Vince P. essentially for
plagiarizing lines to a song. But the particulars are a bit more
interesting.

Only one line is actually the same--and that's a borrowed phrase to
begin with. In addition, there are two words that end up rhyming with
this line, including the playful "wronger", and a mention of Kate Moss
that the suit claims to be unusual.

Here are the respective lines (from the Chicago Tribune story).

http://bit.ly/bZQJj6
> /Vince P "Stronger"/
> What don't kill me make me stronger
> The more I blow up the more you wronger
> You coped my CD you can feel my hunger
> The wait is over couldn't wait no longer
>
> /Kanye West "Stronger"/
> N- n- now th- that don't kill me can only make me stronger
> I need you to hurry up now cause I can't wait much longer
> I know I got to be right now cause I can't get much wronger
> Man I've been waitin' all night now that's how long I've been on you

This suit may end up begging not only for lawyers, but also for
linguists. Obviously, more info is needed to supplment these lines, but,
from a legal perspective, it's important that the rapper in question did
meet with Kanye's manager shortly before the latter song was released.

     VS-)

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