Kanye West is being sued by the Donna Summer estate now

Another day, another headache for Kanye “Ye” West—one that feels pretty safe to assume is entirely of his own making. Following pushback from both Nicki Minaj and Ozzy Osbourne over unauthorized use of their own music, West and his collaborator, Ty Dolla $ign, are now facing a new lawsuit from the Donna Summer estate, which says the rappers “decided they would simply steal” the disco queen’s song “I Feel Love” and “use it without permission” on their recent album, Vultures 1.

The suit is being brought by Summer’s widower and the executor of her estate, Bruce Sudano, who alleges that the pair requested permission to use a sample of Summer’s hit on their track “Good (Don’t Die),” but were denied by the estate before the album was released on February 10 (via The Guardian). “Good (Don’t Die)” was removed from streaming services following an earlier complaint.

In their initial refusal, the estate cited “the immense commercial value of the ‘I Feel Love’ composition, but also the potential degradation to Summer’s legacy.” “West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him,” the complaint continues. “[T]he Summer estate sought to protect the valuable intellectual property… from any public association with the negative publicity surrounding West,” which is all a very measured way to say that the rapper is a raging antisemite.

According to the suit, West and Ty Dolla $ign then sought permission from Universal Music Group, who also refused. “In the face of these repeated denials, West and co-defendants attempted to get around this roadblock by instead making an unauthorised interpolation,” the suit reads. “West and his co-defendants used the song’s iconic melody as the hook for their infringing song and essentially re-recorded almost verbatim key, instantly recognisable portions of I Feel Love using a singer soundalike to Summer, with slight changes to the lyrics (also done without permission).” You can still listen to the song on YouTube, and yeah… the evidence is pretty damning.

But for Sudano, the suit is about a lot more than a paycheck. “It is also about the rights of artists to decide how their works are used and presented to the public, and the need to prevent anyone from simply stealing creative works when they cannot secure the right to use them legally,” the filing reads.

“Good (Don’t Die)” isn’t the only Vultures 1 track that has been removed from streaming services. The album was also briefly pulled off of iTunes and Apple Music after label distribution platform FUGA claimed it had been published without permission.