Kanye West‘s album rollouts are traditionally a mess; that should come as no surprise. On Friday (February 9), Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne went nuclear after they caught wind Vultures Vol. 1 contained an uncleared sample of the Black Sabbath single “Iron Man.” The sample was audible at the 1:45 mark of leaked audio of the track and video of the song from Thursday’s (February 8) listening event in Chicago. As the Osbournes raged, Vultures eventually made its way to iTunes and Amazon but not Spotify.
Saturday afternoon (February 10), the album disappeared from digital streaming platforms altogether before re-appearing later in the day. It’s also now available on Spotify. While nothing has been confirmed, the unauthorized samples of both Black Sabbath and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” could be the culprit.
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West has been swept up in a storm of controversy since making numerous antisemitic remarks. As Ozzy tweeted, “Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of ‘Iron Man’ from the Us Festival without vocals & was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many. He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night. I want no association with this man!”
Sharon later added, “We are considering legal action. Ozzy has not spoken to Kanye but our team have spoken with theirs.” She also told TMZ, “Kanye f##### with the wrong Jew this time“ and insisted West is a “disrespectful antisemite” who “represents hate.”
In retaliation, West posted a picture of the Osbournes on his Instagram with them dressed up as West and Bianca Censori for Halloween. Suggesting Ozzy is actually a fan of his, West wrote, “He obviously has a celebrity handler who’s on his account.”