Kanye West Accused In Plagiarism Case

US Hip Hop stars Kanye West and Ludacris have been accused of stealing music from another American group.

The accusations came from New Jersey collective IOF in a New York District Court in Manhattan who alleged they stole the beats and lyrics for the pairs co-written 2003 hit ‘Stand Up’.

According to the BBC lawyers for the group played both tracks to the jury and both the suoerstar rappers are expected to testify during the proceedings.

IOF’s allegations centre around the phrase “like that” which appears over 80 times in both songs though the Ludracris track says “just like that” while the IOF songs says “straight like that”.

Defending West and Ludracis lawyer Christine Lepera dismissed the case saying: "There are scores of songs out there with the words 'like that' with that type of rhythm. None of you can monopolise certain expressions."

IOF’s lawyers also say that their clients track ‘Straight Like That’ was distributed to Ludacris’ record company but his track came out.

He told the jury IOF "put a lot of time and effort into doing this song and then it was taken away from them.”

The trial is expected to last at least another week.