Donna Summer’s Estate Sues Kanye West for ‘Stealing’ ‘I Feel Love’ for His Vultures Album

Kanye West faced a lawsuit from the estate of the late singer Donna Summer for using a sample of her 1977 hit 'I Feel Love' without permission.

According to court records that were obtained by The Post, West, who is 46 years old, went to the Summer estate and requested permission to use the sample for his song 'Good (Don't Die),' but he was denied permission, as per New York Post.

Kanye West Sued by Donna Summer's Estate

(Photo : Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 02: Kanye West attends the the Versace fall 2019 fashion show at the American Stock Exchange Building in lower Manhattan on December 02, 2018 in New York City.

Kanye West, a Grammy Award-winning musician, is now embroiled in a legal controversy around the alleged illegal use of Donna Summer's legendary composition 'I Feel Love' in his song 'Good (Don't Die).' Bruce Sudano, Summer's widower and estate executor, is the one who began the action. West and collaborator Ty Dolla $ign claim they were not permitted to sample 'I Feel Love' for their composition. As a result, the song was removed from streaming sites when the Summer estate filed a complaint about it.

According to the legal documents, West and Ty Dolla $ign initially requested permission to sample 'I Feel Love' in January, a request that was denied by the estate due to concerns about potential harm to Summer's legacy and commercial exploitation. The lawsuit alleges that, despite repeated denials, West proceeded to make an unauthorized interpolation, re-recording key portions of 'I Feel Love' with a soundalike singer, accompanied by slight lyric modifications.

The legal action draws attention to West's contentious public image as well as prior occasions in which businesses distanced themselves from him as a result of his behavior. The action shows the preparations that the estate is doing to prevent Summer's intellectual property from becoming associated with unwanted connotations that are caused by of West's troubled past.

In addition to bringing attention to the more general problem of artists' rights to control the use and presentation of their works, the lawsuit requires an amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars for each act of infringement. Rather than focusing exclusively on licensing costs, the estate claims that the case is about avoiding illegal exploitation of creative works in situations when legal authorization has not been obtained, according to The Guardian.

Kanye West Faces Sampling Critique

This legal struggle is taking place at the same time as West is faced with critique on his sample approaches. In December of 2023, accusations arose that he used material from the Backstreet Boys without their permission. Additionally, the complaint offers details about West's history of problematic sections, including claims of antisemitic statements in 2022, which led to broken connections with sponsors like Adidas and Gap.

Meanwhile, in a separate example Ozzy Osbourne has expressed his worries over West's usage of a sample from Black Sabbath's song "Iron Man" without first obtaining permission to do so. While expressing his disapproval of West's acts, Osbourne emphasized that authorization was denied due to West's history of problematic behavior.

As the legal processes continue, the case exposes the continuous issues that the music industry faces in terms of copyright infringement and the moral issues that artists' groups must take into account, Aol reported.