Kanye West doubles down on Black Sabbath samples in ‘Vultures 1'

Kanye West’s new album Vultures 1 still features uncleared Black Sabbath music, after Ozzy and Sharon Osborne called him out for using samples without permission.

Kanye made use of his own song Hell of a Life (2010) in Vultures 1. The song features a guitar riff from Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, which would require permission from Black Sabbath members Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. The band members also have writing and publishing credits on Hell of a Life, but didn’t approve the use of the song for Vultures 1.

Randall Wixen, founder of Wixen Music Publishing, which has a 35% stake in the songwriting in Hell of a Life, has confirmed the use was not approved by his company either.

He said: “It’s ironic that Kanye replaced the unlicensed sample of the Ozzy Osbourne track ‘Iron Man’ with a sample of ‘Hell of a Life,’ which also samples a song by Osbourne and Tony Iommi. So, he’s just substituted one unauthorized Ozzy sample for another and now brought our song into the picture. In a perfect world, all samples would be approved and cleared prior to release. It is basic respect for the songwriter.”

Similarly, the song Good (Don’t Die) has been taken down on Spotify after a copyright infringement claim on behalf of Donna Summer‘s estate. The estate claimed that Kanye had asked for permission to use I Feel Love, which was denied. However, the Praise God rapper still used it.