DJ Countersues Kanye

The battle between Chicago DJ Eric “E-Smoove” Miller and Kanye West over 10 unreleased songs the Grammy-winning artist recorded when he was a teenager is heading toward a showdown in court.

Miller, who owns Focus Music Group, filed a lawsuit October 28th seeking $10.5 million and the right to profit from the recordings.

West’s attorneys filed a 20-page lawsuit August 29th accusing the house music afficionado of improperly trying to distribute some of the master recordings earlier this year without the artist’s authorization.

West’s lawsuit seeks at least $1.3 million and demands that Miller stop using West’s name or voice in connection with the master recordings.

However, the DJ claims he co-authored the songs including “Stop Frontin'” and “Ho!” and that West agreed that Focus would own them.

The performer’s suit alleges Miller forged his signature on a recording contract that was submitted to Nashville-based John Galt Entertainment in February along with a pitch for North American distribution of the unauthorized tracks for $450,000.

Galt officials were reportedly suspicious of the deal and alerted West’s representatives. When contacted, Miller allegedly responded via e-mail that he used a “dummy” contract to get the record label’s attention.