OZZY OSBOURNE Explains Why He Turned Down KANYE WEST's Sample Request

Ozzy Osbourne has spoken to Rolling Stone magazine about the decision to refuse permission to Kanye West to sample an Ozzy song at a listening event for the rapper's new album in Chicago.

West, who is now known as Ye, and Ty Dolla $ign hosted the listening party at the United Center earlier in the month ahead of the "Vultures" LP's release and played a track that sampled Ozzy's live performance of "Iron Man" from the BLACK SABBATH singer's solo concert at the US Festival in 1983. (Ozzy initially said in a social media post that West asked to sample "War Pigs", but the song Kanye apparently used is "Iron Man".)

Ozzy told Rolling Stone that he had to make a stand when Kanye asked to sample "Iron Man". "Well, nobody else would fucking do it, did they?" he said.

Osbourne added that he had no regrets about going public with his disdain for the rapper.

"With the current state of affairs, you don't need anybody starting people on discrimination of any kind," Ozzy said. "It's wrong. It's just wrong. There's enough fucking aggravation, and he shouldn't say anything [like what he has]. It's wrong if you don't say anything about him. I don't want any of my work in any shape or form to be associated with anything like that."

Two weeks ago, Ozzy's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne told Billboard magazine about the decision to refuse permission to Kanye to sample "Iron Man": "We get so many requests for these songs, and when we saw that request, we just said no way.

"The simple thing is, we don't want to be associated with a hater," Sharon added. "To spread hate the way he does, it shouldn't be allowed. All the excuses — he's bipolar or whatever — doesn't change that. It's like, fuck you, basically."

Sharon went on to say that because "Iron Man" is credited to the entire original BLACK SABBATH band — Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward — all four songwriters would need to agree before West could use the sample.

The "Vultures" song that reportedly contained the "Iron Man" sample was "Carnival". It was eventually released without the audio of the BLACK SABBATH track.

According to Rolling Stone, the "Iron Man" sample was previously audible at the 1:45 mark of leaked audio of the track, and video of the song from the Chicago event includes the sample around the 1:16 mark in the video below.

"Iron Man" was one of three BLACK SABBATH songs Osbourne performed at the US Festival.

On February 9, Ozzy took to his social media to write in all caps: "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!"

In recent years, West made headlines with his antisemitic remarks and was labeled "antisemite of the year" by a watchdog group named StopAntisemitism in 2022 after made posts on X in which he said he wished to go "death con 3" on Jews. Following his remarks, many of his sponsors decided to disassociate themselves from the rapper, ending their contracts with him.

Earlier this month, West indicated that he finds it difficult to book venues for his shows due to his past antisemitic rants. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the 24-time Grammy-winning singer talked about his hardships in a now-deleted video. He said, "I have not been allowed to perform in a year. Feels like the Elvis Presley movie." Kanye also said the only arena he had been able to book for his tour was the United Center in his hometown.

Last month, Sharon told The Jewish Chronicle that she was "brought up in basically a Jewish household. My family, my father's family, my aunt, my cousins are all Jewish. And observant Jews who practice and love their religion. So Judaism is the only religion I have, and the only one with which I feel comfortable."

Back in 2010, West sampled BLACK SABBATH's "Iron Man" on the "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" track "Hell Of A Life". More recently, Ozzy and Sharon dressed up as West and his wife Bianca Censori for Halloween last year, but Sharon told Billboard that was a "joke".

Last month, a photo was shared online of Kanye wearing a t-shirt from the controversial Norwegian black metal band BURZUM.

BURZUM was founded by Kristian "Varg" Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh),who was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to Norway's longest prison term of 21 years for the August 1993 murder of MAYHEM guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a. Euronymous) and for burning down three churches, including the original Holmenkollen Chapel next to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo. He was released from prison in 2009 after serving 16 years of that sentence.

In 2016, Kanye was featured in a rap song by Gucci Mane, "Pussy Print", which sampled BURZUM's 1996 track "Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Säule Der Singularität".

In December, several media outlets noted that the layout and typography for "Vultures" echoes album covers by BURZUM.

After Vikernes was released from prison, he continued to express extreme views on his web site, claiming that "civil war, race war and a return to extreme nationalism" are "the only solution." He added: "Nothing other than a new Ice Age can stop immigration from Asia and Africa."