Ozzy Osbourne slams Kanye West over unauthorized sample

Two icons of the music world seem to have some major beef. Ozzy Osbourne took to X (formerly Twitter) to speak out against the rapper for using an unauthorized sample of a 1970 Black Sabbath song at a listening party for his new album, Vultures. According to Osbourne, not only was Kanye West not given permission to use the song, he had previously been told he wasn't allowed to use the sample.

Vultures is set to release in three separate volumes on February 9, March 8, and April 5, respectively, after being pushed back from its initial expected release on January 12. On February 8, to celebrate the release of the first volume of the new album, West hosted a listening party, during which he played a 1983 live performance of the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs." According to the post by Osbourne, Kanye West had previously asked to sample the song and was shut down, but that doesn't seem to have stopped the controversial rapper from playing the song anyway.

In his post on X, Ozzy Osbourne says that West asked if he could play a section of the 1983 performance of the song's instrumental section and was told no due to his previous antisemitic comments. "[He] has caused untold heartache to many," Osbourne said in reference to the comments that Kanye West has been previously under fire for.

Earlier in 2024, longtime wife of the rock legend, Sharon Osbourne, stated that Judaism is "the only religion" that she has or feels comfortable with, having grown up with a Jewish father. Although Ozzy Osbourne himself isn't Jewish and is no stranger to controversy, he still chose to speak out against Kanye West's antisemitic comments and chose to deny his request for a sample because of them.

Previously, Ozzy Osbourne had complimented T-Pain on his own cover of "War Pigs" with a re-post of the cover that asked T-Pain why he wasn't invited to perform the song with him.