All Cleared & Uncleared Samples on 'VULTURES 1' by Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign: Continually Updated

Samples on 'STARS':

• Dijon - Good Luck (2019)
• Kanye West - Junya (ft. Playboi Carti) (2021)

Samples on 'KEYS TO MY LIFE':

• Wu-Tang Clan - Can't It All Be So Simple (1993)
• Brand Nubian - Slow Down (1990)

Samples on 'PAID':

• The Police - Roxanne (1978)
• Jodeci - Get On Up (1995)
• Marshawn Lynch - You now Why I'm Here (2015)
• Cajmere - Brighter Days (Underground Goodie Mix ft. Dajaé) (1992)

Samples on 'TALKING (ft. North West)':

• Public Enemy - Bring The Noise (1987)
• Courtney Renà - You Don't Want No Problems, You Just Talk Like You Do! (2023)

Samples on 'BACK TO ME (ft. Freddie Gibbs)':

• Run-DMC - Rock Box (1984)
• Benny the Butcher - One Way Flight (ft. Freddie Gibbs) (2020)
• Dogma - Don't Just Fall Out of the Sky (1999)

Samples on 'HOODRAT':

• Hollywood Unlock's Jason Lee with Mike Tyson (Episode 34)

Samples on 'DO IT (ft. YG)':

• Juvenile - Back That Azz Up (Back That Thang Up) (ft. Mannie Fresh & Lil Wayne) (1998)
• Ty Dolla $ign - I Just Wanna Know (ft. Nipsey Hussle & Cardi B) (2020)

Samples on 'PAPERWORK (ft. Quavo)':

• DJ Vitinho Beat & DJ Roca - Montagem Faz Macete 3 (2022)
• DJ Batata & MC Créu - O DJ Controla a Bunda (2013)

Samples on 'FUK SUMN (ft. Playboi Carti & Travis Scott)':

• Koopsta Knicca - Smoking on a J (1999)
• Reverend W.A. Donaldson - Baptizing Scene (1960)
• James Brown - Funky President (People It's Bad) (1974)
• Secession Studios - Sad & Dramatic Violin Music - One Hundred Strings (2017)
• Tony Joe White - Stud-Spider (1970)

Samples on 'VULTURES (ft. Bump J & Lil Durk)':

• Kanye West - Cold (ft. DJ Khaled) (2012)
• Three 6 Mafia, Kingpin Skinny Pimp & 211 - Pimpin' & Robbin' (1994)

Samples on 'CARNIVAL (ft. Playboi Carti & Rich The Kid)':

• Kanye West- Hell of a Life (2010)
• Playboi Carti - BACKR00MS (ft. Travis Scott) (2024)
• ¥$ - CARNIVAL (HOOLIGANS Version) (2024)

Sample on 'BEG FORGIVENESS (ft. Chris Brown)':

• Joe Goddard - Gabriel (ft. Valentina) (2011)

Interpolation on 'GOOD (DON'T DIE)':

• Donna Summer - I Feel Love (1977)

Samples on 'PROBLEMATIC':

• Pierre Henry & Spooky Tooth - Jubilation (1969)
• Kanye West, Swizz Beats & Jay-Z - So Appalled (ft. Pusha T, RZA & CyHi the Prynce) (2010)

Samples on 'KING':

• Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (1980)
• S. Maharba - Stems (2008)
• Run-DMC - Hit It Run (1986)

The interpolation of Donna Summer’s 'I Feel Love' on 'GOOD (DON'T DIE)'

Donna Summer's estate publicly announced that, "Kanye West asked permission to use Donna Summer song, 'I Feel Love,' [but] he was denied. He changed the words, had someone re-sing it, or used AI but it's 'I Feel Love'…copyright infringement!"

Kanye West used a similar strategy to bypass clearance of a master recording for 'All Falls Down' on The College Dropout. He couldn't clear the sample of Lauryn Hill's 'Mystery of Iniquity' and had Syleena Jonhon re-sing that portion of the song. However, even for replaying music as interpolations, a producer still has to get permission from the rightholder(s).

UPDATE (Feb 15th): Following the backlash of the unauthorised usage, 'GOOD (DON'T DIE)' has been removed from DSPs.

UPDATE (Feb 24th): 'GOOD (DON'T DIE)' has been re-uploaded to Spotify. However, the credits are puzzling: the song cites RichYeRich as the performer, Brian Jamoe as the writer, there are no production credits, and the song comes with a random anime artwork.

UPDATE (Mar 4th): It's official. According to The New York Times, Donna Summer's estate officially filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign. The claim states that Ye and Ty "recorded almost verbatim the key, memorable portions of Summer's iconic song, used it as the hook for their own song, and released it to the public knowing they had tried and failed to secure legal permission from its rightful owners."

Kanye West VS. Ozzy Osbourne: the Black Sabbath sample on 'CARNIVAL'

During one of the notorious stadium listening sessions, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign played a version of 'CARNIVAL' with a guitar riff sample off Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man,' played live by the heavy metal band at 1983's Us Festival. Kanye previously—and legally—sampled 'Iron Man' on 'Hell of a Life' off 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Ozzy Osbourne blasted Ye on Instagram, sharing: "Kanye West asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of 'War Pig' [sic] 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!”

UPDATE (Feb 10th): Ozzy and his wife Sharon Osbourne threatened legal action, stating "Kanye f*cked with the wrong Jew this time" to TMZ. Upon the album release of VULTURES 1, the sample was pulled from the album version of 'CARNIVAL.' Instead, there's now a sample from Kanye's own song 'Hell of a Life' which includes a guitar riff sample from Black Sabbath’s 'Iron Man.'

UPDATE: The list of uncleared and unapproved samples on VULTURES 1 keeps growing

According to a new Billboard report, there are many more ongoing clearance issues surrounding the album release of VULTURES 1. A representative of James Brown's estate told Billboard that the often-sampled 'Funky President (People It’s Bad)' was not cleared for use in 'FUK SUMN.'

Similarly, Reservoir Media—known for solving De La Soul's sample issues and bringing their iconic catalog to streaming platforms last year—is still negotiating the use of a sample of Brand Nubian's golden-era hit 'Slow Down' in 'KEYS TO MY LIFE.' Also, now that 'Hell of a Life' is sampled in 'CARNIVAL,' more uncleared usage comes into play: that of swamp rocker Tony White Joe and funk innovator Sly Stone, as sampled on 'Hell of a Life.'

Needless to say, this clearance process usually happens before an album is released. Keep an eye on this article for more updates about the samples on VULTURES 1 by ¥$.