Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign‘s Vultures 1 collab album may be a hit among fans, but the album has not arrived without its controversies. Today (February 27), Billboard reports that Donna Summer’s estate has filed a lawsuit against West for interpolating Summer’s hit song “I Feel Love” on the Vultures 1 track “Good (Don’t Die).”
According to the lawsuit, West requested permission to sample the song, but was denied by the estate. West then rerecorded portions of “I Feel Love” to use on “Good (Don’t Die).”
“Summer’s estate … wanted no association with West’s controversial history and specifically rejected West’s proposed use,” attorneys for the estate wrote. “In the face of this rejection, defendants arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal ‘I Feel Love’ and use it without permission.”
The song has since been removed from streaming platforms, however, Summer’s estate is continuing to pursue legal action, as the song has already garnered many streams.
“This lawsuit is about more than Defendants’ mere failure to pay the appropriate licensing fee for using another’s musical property,” the estate’s lawyers wrote. “It is also about 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.”
Though the portions West used were re-recorded, Summer’s attorneys maintain that West copied the song, as the tunes sound too much alike,
“When listening to both songs, any average listener can immediately hear the distinctive similar melody and compositional elements present in both songs, which sound so identical that it appears Defendants may have gone so far as sampling the original master recording of Summer,” the attorneys wrote.
At the time of writing, neither West nor Ty Dolla Sign have directly commented on the matter.
Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
