Is Kanye West's Latest Music Stolen? Exploring the Allegations from Donna Summer and Ozzy Osbourne

I still remember Donna Summer’s major hit “I Feel Love” back in 1977.   She was the “Queen of Disco” and nearly every venue highlighted Summer’s songs while flooded dance floors everywhere and moved to her wonderful, innovative, and trendy dance music.  

And then there is the career of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath.  His wife Sharon, as well as their kids appear on television or in print quite often. So it has been quite easy to keep tabs on what he is up to now, as well as to re-live his crazy rock and roll antics from the past.   One song in particular from his time with Black Sabbath is “War Pigs,” recorded live in 1983.

What links these two artists and these two particular songs?  Both the Donna Summer estate (she died in 2012) and Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne have posted on social media that their music was stolen and performed on an album entitled Vultures 1, which features these songs using elements from both artists’ music.

Who on earth would steal their music, you ask? According to The New York Times (NYT), hip-hop artists Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign (a.k.a. Tyrone William Griffin, Jr.) have been accused of using these artists’ songs by sampling and utilizing them in new compositions.

Apparently, West requested permission from the the Donna Summer estate and Ozzy to incorporate the above two songs into his new album, Vultures 1, but was denied by both.   However, according to them, West ignored their refusal, digitally sampling and incorporating parts of their original songs in new compositions just released last month.

According to the NYT, West removed the sample of Ozzy’s song after being sent a cease-and-desist order. However, he chose to instead replace that sample with his own track, “Hell of a Life,” which itself samples "Iron Man,” one of Black Sabbath’s best-known songs.

Osbourne and the Donna Summer estate voiced on social media about West using their music without permission.  Summer’s estate posted on social media, "He changed the words, had someone re-sing it, or used AI {artificial intelligence},” but that still constituted "copyright infringement." Osbourne said in his social media post he denied West permission to use his past work because of some of West’s past comments (in 2022, West praised Adolf Hitler in an interview online and has made a number of controversial statements on social media).

Forbes lists West as being worth $400 million; however, it has been published that he has lost more than $1.5 billion in the last year or so when Adidas terminated its partnership with him for making antisemitic remarks and other offensive public comments.  

It seems that when someone has a lot of money, they often tend to think they can do what they want - even if it borders on the edge of being legal, fair, or appropriate.  Is this the case with this latest incident?

Just what is sampling in hip-hop? One of the primary elements of hip-hop music is to digitally edit pieces of existing music and incorporate that section into a new composition.  Most of the time, these “samples” are digitally altered to change the tempo or pitch, although the original musical section sampled is recognizable from the original.  Because the music being used is copyrighted, an artist needs permission to use it before releasing it as a new composition; the hip-hop artist is expected to pay for using another artist’s pre-existing material; and/or share in the profits that arise from using it. West isn’t the first artist to be accused of stealing music by sampling it without permission.  In 1990, when hip-hop was just becoming a force in the music industry, MC Hammer infamously sampled the catchy Rick James song “Super Freak.”  The problem? He never asked James for an okay.    

MC Hammer’s use of this big hit on his song “U Can’t Touch This” led to a lawsuit.  Settled out of court, Hammer had to give James credit for authoring the song, thereby relinquishing several millions of dollars in royalties.  It certainly got everyone’s attention, since some of the samples used in other hip-hop songs, such as “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison, had been tossed out by the courts for various reasons.

Most people, thankfully, follow the rules.  Billboard published a story in 2022 about Weird Al Yankovic asking artists for permission to make a parody song of one of their hits.  Some were keen to the idea and others were not. If an artist said no - such as Prince, Paul McCartney, and Lady Gaga - he didn’t record their material.  Weird Al is not a hip-hop artist sampling original music, but he is playing the song with a new arrangement and lyrics. Yankovic had enough respect for these artists to honor their decision, something West seems to lack.  Ironically, parodies don’t require an artist’s permission, just a portion of the publishing rights need be shared if the song creates income.  Still Weird Al didn’t cross that line.    

It sounds like the Osbourne's and Summer’s estate are going to take legal action against West and Griffin, Jr.   Copyright experts told Business Insider the samples appear to be a “clear cut” case against West.   Maybe the signal will be stronger in this case not to use someone else’s music and benefit from it without getting permission.  

Only time will tell.  

Have a great week! Rob

TheRockandRollProfessor.com