Kanye West has found himself in hot water once again, as the estate of another legend has come forward to claim that the controversial rapper didn’t obtain proper clearance to interpolate a classic song.
In an Instagram Story post that dropped on Saturday (February 10), the estate of disco legend Donna Summer — who died in 2012 — said that West didn’t obtain permission for the use of “I Feel Love,” the 1977 classic track co-written by Summer, producer Giorgio Moroder, and Peter Bellotte.
“Kanye West asked permission to use Donna Summer song, ‘I Feel Love,’ [but] he was denied,” the post read. “He changed the words, had someone re-sing it, or used AI but it’s ‘I Feel Love’…copyright infringement!”
The offending song in question is “Good (Don’t Die)” from the Vultures 1 album. You can take a listen to it, alongside “I Feel Love,” below.
Kanye West use of Donna Summer song called "copyright infringement" by singer’s estatehttps://t.co/7iw8GfpxxT pic.twitter.com/GW8tEelaAj
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) February 10, 2024
HipHopDX has reached out to the attorney of record for Donna Summer’s publishing company, but there was no immediate response.
The story posted by the Summer estate tagged Ozzy Osbourne’s wife, Sharon, in the post — seeming to allude to the Black Sabbath singer’s similarly lodged complaint against West, in which he accused the rapper of using a live sample of “Iron Man” after being denied the right to do so.
Osbourne sent out a PSA on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Friday (February 9) in the aftermath of the Vultures 1 album event that was live-streamed the night before, during which Ye and Ty Dolla $ign previewed a song featuring elements of an early-eighties live performance by Ozzy of Sabbath’s 1970 track “Iron Man.”
In the post, Osbourne wrote: “@KANYEWEST ASKED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE A SECTION OF A 1983 LIVE PERFORMANCE OF “IRON MAN” FROM THE US FESTIVAL WITHOUT VOCALS & WAS REFUSED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTISEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNTOLD HEARTACHE TO MANY. HE WENT AHEAD AND USED THE SAMPLE ANYWAY AT HIS ALBUM LISTENING PARTY LAST NIGHT. I WANT NO ASSOCIATION WITH THIS MAN.”
Upon catching wind of the tweet, Ye took to his Instagram Stories to speculate that a “celebrity handler” must have sent out the tweet via Osbourne’s account, pointing to the fact that, while the Rock legend claimed to want “no association,” he and wife Sharon Osbourne dressed as West and Bianca Censori for Halloween last year.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign also allegedly failed to receive permission from the Backstreet Boys to sample their anthem “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” for their new song of nearly the same name.
