OZZY REFUSES KANYE WEST’S REQUEST TO SAMPLE A BLACK SABBATH SONG

Ozzy Osbourne felt like he had to make a stand earlier this month when Kanye West asked to sample Iron Man for a song on the rapper’s new album. “Well, nobody else would fu-king do it, did they?” he tells Rolling Stone‘s Kory Grow.

Ahead of West and Ty Dolla $ign’s doomed Vultures 1 album rollout, Osbourne posted to his social media that he had denied West’s sample request “because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many.” To make matters worse, Osbourne wrote at the time that West “used the sample anyway.” But after Osbourne went public with the issue, West eventually replaced the sample on the song Carnival before it hit streaming services.

Osbourne has 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,” he says. “It’s wrong. It’s just wrong.” Osbourne’s frustration with the incident still comes through in his voice as he chastises West.

There’s enough fu-king aggravation, and he shouldn’t say anything [like what he has],” Osbourne says. “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.”

Wife/manager Sharon explained to Billboard, “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, fu-k 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, anyway.

[Dana’s note: I applaud Ozzy for taking a stand. Bravo to the Prince of Darkness.]