YZY Issues Statement on “Hurricane” Copyright Case After Jury Orders Ye to Pay $438K Over Unreleased Demo Sample Use: “Failed Shakedown”**

A Los Angeles jury found Ye liable for using an uncleared demo in an early version of “Hurricane.” The bill is $438,558.

Artist Revenue Advocates sued in 2024 for four musicians: Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease. Their 2018 instrumental “MSD PT2” showed up in a one-minute “Hurricane” demo played at the first Donda listening party. Mercedes-Benz Stadium. July 22, 2021. Tens of thousands in the stands. Apple streaming the night.

The finished “Hurricane,” with The Weeknd and Lil Baby, won a Grammy. That official cut did not keep the sample. A February ruling already killed the bigger claim on the released song and on “Moon.” What went to trial was the stadium playback of the rough.

After a week in court the jury split the number: $176,153 on Ye personally, $176,153 on Yeezy LLC, $41,625 on Yeezy Supply, $44,627 on Mascotte Holdings. Plaintiffs’ lawyers had talked $5.6 million in ticket, merch, and stream money from that night. Earlier settlement talk, according to YZY, was $30 million.

YZY’s statement is the headline. Failed shakedown. They wanted $30 million six months ago. They got a fraction. There is a cost, the statement said, to thinking you can take advantage of Ye. His trial lawyer later called the same verdict a win because the monster number never made it to the jury.

The other side called it the underdogs’ day in court. The beat was written in 2018, passed to a producer, then heard by the writers on an Instagram snippet labeled “80 Degrees.” They said they never cleared it for a stadium.

Copyright cases about demos are usually quiet checks. This one became a listening-party profit fight. Ye still has to pay the $438K unless an appeal moves it. The sample is not on the album you stream. It was on the version 40,000 people heard in Atlanta. That was enough.