According to the late artist’s estate, on Vultures 1, Kanye West has used an unauthorized interpolation of Donna Summer‘s 1977 hit “I Feel Love.”
Included on Ye’s joint LP with Ty Dolla $ign that dropped on Saturday (2.10,), the alleged copyright infringement is used in the embattled rapper’s electro-pop track “Good (Don’t Die).” The lyric “Oh, I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive” is seemingly set to the melody of Summer’s “I Feel Love.”
As stated in an Instagram Story on the official Donna Summer account “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!!!”
In 1977 “I Feel Love” peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 23 weeks on the chart. Produced and co-written with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte for the late Queen of Disco’s fifth studio album, I Remember Yesterday, the iconic single was was one of 14 songs to reach the top 10 on the Hot 100 throughout Summer’s lifetime.
On Friday (2.09,), former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne called out Kanye West on social media, stating that the rapper had asked to sample a song but was “refused permission because he is an antisemite.” Osbourne stated that he used the sample anyway at a Vultures 1 listening event at Chicago’s United Center this week. “I want no association with this man!” wrote Ozzy. Although Osbourne said that West asked to sample “War Pigs,” the song he seems to have used at the event is “Iron Man.”
On Friday, Sharon Osbourne told Billboard “We get so many requests for these songs,” “and when we saw that request, we just said no way,” adding “We’ve been in touch with his team … And it’s also an issue of having respect for another artist.”
On Saturday, she tweeted: “The Osbourne family have never wanted any association with Kanye West. He is an anti-Semitic fool who spews his rhetoric out into the world, Kanye you f—ed with the wrong dude this time. Sincerely, Sharon Osbourne.”
Vultures 1 marks the first Kanye West full length since the release of his 2021 album, Donda, and his first project since his string of hate speech and antisemitic remarks, which resulted in companies such as Adidas and Def Jam distancing themselves from the now 46-year-old rapper.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Jason Persse