When Kanye West released Vultures 2, his second collaborative LP with Ty Dolla $ign, in 2024, he quickly drew accusations of using AI to deepfake his own voice. Now, a lawsuit filed by a producer who claims to have worked on the album appears to corroborate those rumors.
According to a new Rolling Stone report, the producer, who filed his suit anonymously in Los Angeles’ Superior Court, alleges that he was brought in to work on Vultures 2 on “an emergency basis” just two days before the album’s release. His work, which he claims appears on five tracks, included, per RS, the creation of “at least 13 custom AI voice models, more than 400 individual vocal generations, and source material using his own voice.” Pitchfork has reached out to West’s representatives for comment.
The producer reportedly contributed further AI vocal programming to Bully, West’s most recent solo album, beginning in October 2024. His suit claims that he has not yet been paid for his work on Bully or Vultures 2, and that West and his label, YZY, have failed to include him in the albums’ production credits on streaming services. He is seeking at least $110,000 for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and the Los Angeles Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance.
Bully dropped in March of this year. At the time, West explicitly stated that the album used “no AI”—despite having previously gone on record as saying that he uses the technology in his songwriting and recording process. Last week, he settled a 2024 lawsuit brought against him by Lauren Pisciotta, his former assistant, who had accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Another lawsuit against West—this one over an uncleared sample in an early version of his Donda track “Hurricane”—recently went to court and broke in favor of the plaintiff, with West himself ordered to pay just shy of $200,000.
Revisit the review of Vultures 2.
Read the original article here