Kanye West being dragged to court is nothing new. It’s a damn near monthly occurrence nowadays, especially when it comes to songs he did (or did not) get cleared to sample.
His latest court battle involves the estate of Donna Summer, which claims that the controversial rapper made a version of a song that sounded similar to one of Summer’s most popular records.
According to TMZ, Summer’s estate is suing both Ye and Ty Dolla $ign, who collaborated on “Vultures Pt.1,” claiming they sampled the 1977 hit, “I Feel Love” without the estate’s permission. When Summer’s family was approached by the rap duo, they denied their wishes to use the song, saying they did not want to be a part of the controversy surrounding Ye’s antisemitic comments and lyrics.
Despite the family’s wishes, Ye and Ty still released “Good (Don’t Die),” the song in question, when “Vultures Pt. 1” was released on February 9. But this time, instead of directly sampling Summer’s vocals, they created an interpolation of the 1977 track.
Although it was a slick way to deny any claims made by Summer’s estate, they are still suing Ye and Ty, claiming that they still can be sued for copyright infringement.
This is why the Summer Estate had the song removed from all streaming platforms shortly after it was released. This could also be the reason fans could not stream the album just days after it came out.
Even though fans can’t stream the song currently, Summer’s family is still arguing that the song was listened to millions of times before it was taken down from streaming services and that several people who bought the album still have access to it.
As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time Ye has been sued over the use of a sample. In July 2022, West was accused of sampling Marshall Jefferson’s 1986 house track “Move Your Body” without gaining permission or giving compensation. The lawsuit claimed that Ye sampled the song “Flowers” at least 22 times throughout the beat.