Ozzy Osbourne has spoken out against Kanye West again. At the center of the conflict between the two musicians is a Black Sabbath sample by the rapper without the band’s permission.
Ozzy Osbourne: No association with Kanye West
“I don’t want any of my work to be associated with anything like that in any way,” Ozzy Osbourne said Conversation with the English ROLLING STONE. He was referring to the rapper’s views – the former Black Sabbath frontman had previously spoken out against his anti-Semitism. About having made the rapper aware of his actions, he said: “Well, no one else fucking did it, right?” Explanatory, the musician, who is particularly legendary for heavy metal, continued: “With the current state of the world, we need it we don’t start discriminating against people in any way. It is wrong. It’s just wrong. There are damn enough difficult circumstances and he shouldn’t say things like he did. It is wrong not to say anything against him.”
First hit on social media
At the beginning of the month, Ozzy Osbourne wrote a post on social media that made his point of view clear. The singer firmly rejected the fact that Kanye West played a passage from Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” during an event to promote his new album “Vultures 1”, which was created in collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign. “Kanye West has requested permission to sample an excerpt of a live performance of ‘Iron Man’ from the US Festival in 1983 without vocals. “He didn’t get permission because he’s an anti-Semite who has caused great pain to many,” Ozzy Osbourne shared. “He still just used the sample at a listening party for his album. I don’t want anything to do with this man!”
Another rejection from Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne also commented on Kanye West in an interview. “He messed with the wrong Jew this time,” she said firmly told TMZ. She herself was raised in the Jewish faith. She attributed this to the fact that her husband did not grant permission for sampling. Typically, she said, her husband allows other musicians to use his songs. In this case, however, he had “a special damn reason to say no.” Sharon Osbourne also called Kanye West a “disrespectful anti-Semite” who “represents hate.”
The intended live recording of “Iron Man”:
The couple sent the rapper a cease-and-desist letter following the incident. A few days later, it was revealed that Kanye West had removed the sample from the song in question. Instead of passages from “Iron Man” (1970), a distorted guitar can now be heard.
This is how Kanye West reacted
The rapper was first accused of anti-Semitism in October 2022 – after which companies such as Adidas and Balenciaga ended their collaboration with him. In an interview with New Nation, Kanye West said he doesn’t believe in the term anti-Semitism. Later he apologized for his statements to the Jewish community, and then he appeared publicly with merchandise from Burzum, the former black metal project of the neo-Nazi and convicted murderer Sarg Vikernes. He also wrote a reply to Ozzy Osbourne. Since the British musician and his wife dressed up as Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori last Halloween based on their questionable outfits, the rapper concluded that the Black Sabbath leader must have an Instagram account run by someone else, i.e. a supervisor wrote the post. This is now contradicted by Ozzy Osbourne’s renewed focus on illegal sampling.