Ozzy Osbourne is mad at Kanye West. The reason: The rapper and producer initially used a sample of a live version of the Black Sabbath piece “Iron Man” for his current album “Vultures 1” – even though Osbourne had explicitly forbidden him from using it.
“@kanyewest asked for permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of ‘Iron Man’ from the US festival without vocals & was denied permission because he is an anti-Semite and has caused untold suffering to many people. Still, he used the sample at his album listening party last night. I want nothing to do with this man!” Osbourne wrote angrily on X (formerly Twitter) on February 9th.
Kanye West reacts – and removes sample
Osbourne’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne told Billboard. “We get so many requests for these songs, and when we saw this request we just said no,” Osbourne said. “The simple thing is we don’t want to be associated with a hater. Spreading hate like he does shouldn’t be allowed. All the excuses – he’s bipolar or whatever – don’t change that. Basically it’s ‘fuck you’.
Kanye West reacts – and removes sample
The piece in question is a song called “Carnival”. Apparently Osbourne’s scolding did not fall on deaf ears of West, who has repeatedly made people sit up and take notice in recent months with anti-Semitic statements and scandals. The sample cannot be found on the version of “Vultures 1” released on February 10, 2024.
The album title “Vultures” could be seen in Fraktur font. Some saw clear parallels here with Burzum, who designed some of their artwork similarly in terms of both typeface and motifs. The album was released on February 10, 2024 with changed artwork. The new version shows a masked man and the rear view of a woman – it can be assumed that it is West and his wife Bianca Censori.