Kanye West is under fire for allegedly interpolating the melody of Donna Summer's I Feel Love without permission.
Summer's estate has claimed that they denied West's initial request to sample the track but that he has lifted the melody from the song regardless. The alleged interpolation can be heard in the main hook of West's Good (Don't Die), a song featured on Vultures 1, his new collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign. Both tracks are embedded below.
"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", said a statement posted in an Instagram story on the official Donna Summer Instagram account on Feb 10, before going on to accuse West of copyright infringement.
The 40 greatest synth sounds of all time, No 3: Donna Summer - I Feel Love
This isn't the first time West has received criticism for using unauthorized samples. Just a few days ago, Ozzy Osbourne called out West for sampling a live version of Osbourne's Iron Man. Both Osbourne and his wife Sharon have spoken out on the matter; in a post shared on X, Osbourne said West was "was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many."
Sharon Osbourne went a little further, telling TMZ that West had "fucked with the wrong Jew this time." West has since removed the Iron Man sample from Vultures 1.
In 2022, Chicago house legend Marshall Jefferson sued West for the alleged use of an unauthorized sample from his 1986 track Move Your Body used on West's album Donda 2.
Speaking with BBC Radio 1 at the time, Jefferson remarked: "I've been sampled thousands of times. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Getting done by another artist, a Black artist, a fellow Chicagoan, without acknowledgment is disappointing." The lawsuit has since been settled.
