According to Donna Summer’s estate, Kanye West used an unauthorized interpolation of the late singer’s 1977 hit “I Feel Love” on the Vultures 1 track “Good (Don’t Die).” The joint album with Ty Dolla $ign dropped on Saturday, and Summer’s estate made a statement on Instagram the same day.
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“Kanye West… asked permission to use Donna Summer’s song ‘I Feel Love,’ he was denied… he changed the words, had someone re sing it or used AI but it’s ‘I Feel Love’… copyright infringement!!!” the statement read on the Instagram stories of the official Donna Summer account.
On the track, West sings, “Oh, I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive,” seemingly to the tune of “I Feel Love.”
West has also had issues with Ozzy Osbourne, as he used a sample of a live “Iron Man” performance also without permission. According to a statement from Osbourne, he did not give West permission “because he is an antisemite.” Osbourne posted on social media, “I want no association with this man!” after West revealed he used the sample of “Iron Man” in the track “Carnival” at a listening party.
Initially, Osbourne claimed West sampled a live performance of “War Pigs,” but later corrected the statement. The sample was actually from a 1983 live performance of “Iron Man” when Osbourne played the US Festival solo.
Could Kanye West Get Into Legal Trouble with Donna Summer’s Estate, Ozzy Osbourne, and The Backstreet Boys?
“We get so many requests for these songs,” Sharon Osbourne told Billboard on Friday (February 9), “and when we saw that request, we just said no way.” She continued, “We’ve been in touch with his team … And it’s also an issue of having respect for another artist.”
Kanye West recently put out his own statement on the subject of his “Iron Man” use and Osbourne calling him an “anti-Semite” on social media. West responded to Osbourne by saying, “He obviously has a celebrity handler who’s on his account.”
Allegedly, West doesn’t believe Ozzy Osbourne has control of his own social media, and that he did not make the initial statement calling West out for his anti-Semitism. According to Sharon Osbourne, “our team have spoken with [Kanye West’s team]” and the Osbournes could potentially seek legal action.
Prior to Vultures 1 being released, West was also on the brink of potential legal trouble with The Backstreet Boys. The Kanye track in question is titled “Everybody,” and uses an interpolation from the Backstreet Boys song of the same name, allegedly without permission from the band or the label.
While the band doesn’t have songwriting credit and therefore no legal standing, there was some speculation that the release of “Everybody” could have been blocked by the label or songwriters, Max Martin and the late Denniz Pop’s estate. West pushed the release date of the entire album at that point, but whether or not it was due to the Backstreet Boys controversy is unknown.
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