Kanye West has hit the headlines once again, but this time, it’s nothing to do with his barely-dressed wife Bianca Censori.
The 46-year-old rapper is in hot water after being accused of using a sample of Donna Summer’s iconic 1977 hit I Feel Love on his track Good (Don't Die). The song featured on his latest album Vultures 1, which was released earlier this month, and now Kanye is being sued by the disco queen’s estate for using a sample without permission.
The controversial rapper has not yet commented on the lawsuit, which was brought by Donna’s widower Bruce Sudano, who is also the executor of her estate. Ty Dolla $ign, who featured on the track, has also been named in the lawsuit, which claims the inclusion of Donna’s iconic track in Kanye’s music could damage her legacy.
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Donna Summer's estate has launched legal action against Kanye's use of her disco anthem (Visual China Group via Getty Images)
Kanye asked permission to use the track just one week before releasing the song (Getty Images for Fast Company)The estate’s legal team claimed that Alien Music, representing Kanye, approached them a week before Vultures 1 was due to be released to request permission to sample the disco track. They were refused, as the estate said there could be a “potential degradation to Summer's legacy” as “West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him”.
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They added that they tried to “protect the valuable intellectual property… from any public association with the negative publicity surrounding West”, and alleged the rapper instead used music that sounded similar to I Feel Love to get around the denied request. After the album was released, Donna’s estate contacted streaming services to request that the song be removed, but they allege her legacy has already been damaged as millions of people streamed the album before the song was taken down. The lawsuit is asking for damages and an injunction to block further distribution of the song.
Ozzy has no regrets over standing up to Kanye when he tried to use a Black Sabbath song (Getty Images)Donna, best known for her disco anthems such as Hot Stuff and Love to Love You Baby, died of lung cancer in 2012. The lawsuit alleges that Kanye and Ty stole the music, and legal action was taken to highlight “the rights of artists to decide how their works are used and presented to the public, and the need to prevent anyone from simply stealing creative works when they cannot secure the right to use them legally.”
Kanye is no stranger to copyright infringement accusations, and earlier this month, legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne blocked the rapper from sampling a live version of Black Sabbath’s 1983 track Iron Man on his Vultures 1 album. However, the Flashing Lights hitmaker ignored the request, and allegedly used a sample of the song anyway for his track Carnival during a recent album listening party.
Kanye has faced copyright infringement lawsuits over the years (AFP via Getty Images)The 75-year-old rocker blasted the rapper in an interview after the release of Carnival, and said he denied the request to use his song because Kanye was “an anti-Semite”. He told Rolling Stone he had no regrets standing up to the controversial rapper, and said Kanye should keep quiet. “It’s wrong. It’s just wrong,” Ozzy fumed. “It’s wrong if you don’t say anything about him. I don’t want any of my work in any shape or form to be associated with anything like that.”
In May last year, Kanye settled a lawsuit after being accused of sampling a song by house music pioneer Marshall Jefferson without permission. Ultra International Music Publishing LLC sued the rapper in 2022 as they alleged the track Flowers from Kanye’s 2022 album Donda 2 featured an unauthorised sample from Marshall’s 1986 song Move Your Body. The rapper admitted in court documents to sampling the track, but denied infringing copyright.
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