Every few years a Western artist drops a track with a long, aching female voice floating over the beat, and listeners start asking the same question: who is that singer? More and more often the answer is Fairuz, the Lebanese singer whose records, from the 1950s onward, are among the most loved in the Arab world.
The short answer: Kanye West's "All the Love" (2026) samples Fairuz's "Fayek Alaya". Madonna's "Erotica" (1992) used part of her Holy Week hymn "Al Yawm Oullika Aala Khashaba". Macklemore's "Hind's Hall" (2024) samples "Ana La Habibi". Drake's sample of "Wahdon" was reported in 2025, but we could not confirm it on the final release (details below). This guide covers what each sample is, what is documented, and how to hear the original recordings.
The samples at a glance
- Madonna, "Erotica" (1992): samples "Al Yawm Oullika Aala Khashaba". Confirmed by Wikipedia's Fairuz biography.
- Macklemore, "Hind's Hall" (May 2024): samples "Ana La Habibi". Confirmed by Wikipedia's page for the song.
- Drake, "Wahdon" (reported September 2025): tied by The New Arab and The National to the album Iceman. Final credit not confirmed by us.
- Kanye West, "All the Love" (2026): samples "Fayek Alaya". Confirmed by Wikipedia and reported by The National on March 29, 2026.
Kanye West, "All the Love": the "Fayek Alaya" sample
"All the Love" is the fourth track on Bully, Kanye West's twelfth studio album, released in 2026. According to Wikipedia, the production features a prominent sample of "Fayek Alaya" by Fairuz, which roughly translates as "you are awake over me". The singer's vocals are stretched across what the page describes as a "gospel-inflected" arrangement with 1980s-style synths and tribal drums. The sampling credit goes to Assi and Mansour Rahbani, the brothers who wrote and composed the original.
Critics noticed the Fairuz voice right away. Complex's Peter A. Berry wrote that the track "sounds like Lion King in Space", and Wikipedia notes that the song charted in the UK and the US in April 2026. The National ran a story on the sample on March 29, 2026, the weekend the album's listening events took place.
Here is the original, from Fairuz's official YouTube channel. Listen for her voice, because the new track stretches her vocal across its beat.
Madonna, "Erotica": the sample that became a legal dispute
The oldest famous Fairuz sample is also the most controversial. According to Wikipedia, in 1992 Madonna sampled parts of "Al Yawm Oullika Aala Khashaba" ("Today He Was Hung on a Cross") in "Erotica" without permission. The song is a Holy Week hymn. The two sides settled out of court, and Madonna's album and single were prohibited in Lebanon. A Beirut.com City Guide article from 2018 recalls it as the time Fairuz sued Madonna in 1993.
The takeaway is practical: a sample is not only a musical choice, it is also a rights question. For more on the hymns in her catalog, see the seasonal section of our Fairuz listening guide.
Macklemore, "Hind's Hall": a protest song built on "Ana La Habibi"
Macklemore released "Hind's Hall" as a single on May 6, 2024. Wikipedia describes it as a protest song, and says it was produced by Macklemore and samples "Ana La Habibi" by Fairuz. We mention it for the sample credit only; the song's politics are its own. It shows that Fairuz's recordings now turn up in very different kinds of Western songs.
Drake, "Wahdon": what is reported and what is not
In September 2025, headlines in The New Arab and The National said Drake would sample Fairuz's "Wahdon" on his album Iceman, and a November 2025 headline in The Michigan Daily Sun described a cultural debate around the teased sample. Iceman was then released on May 15, 2026, alongside the albums Maid of Honour and Habibti.
Wikipedia's page for Iceman does not mention a Fairuz sample, and we could not open a credits listing that confirms "Wahdon" on the final track list. So treat the Drake sample as reported and teased, not verified. If you want to quote it, check the official credits in your streaming app first.
Why the Rahbani brothers are in the credits
When Kanye's track credits Assi and Mansour Rahbani, it can look strange that Fairuz's own name is not the headline. The reason is how sampling works. A sample typically involves two layers of rights: the composition (the songwriters and their publishers) and the recording (the label or whoever owns the master). Many of Fairuz's classic songs were written and composed by the Rahbani brothers. According to Wikipedia, they also produced 25 musical plays, 20 of them with Fairuz, over more than 30 years, so their catalog is huge.
The Rahbani family's rights have been contested before. Wikipedia reports that in 2010 a Lebanese court banned Fairuz from singing material involving Mansour Rahbani's contributions after his children filed a lawsuit, a decision that sparked protests from her fans. The point is that whose names appear on a sample credit is a business and legal matter, not a measure of who the public thinks of as the voice.
Why Fairuz, of all singers?
There is no official answer, and we would be guessing if we claimed one. But some facts stand out. Wikipedia says she has recorded nearly 1,500 songs and sold over 150 million records, and that she and the Rahbanis introduced Western sounds into Lebanese music and shorter three-minute songs in the Lebanese dialect. That gives producers a huge, distinctive and unusually flexible catalog to dig through. Her voice, as Wikipedia notes of her radio audition, could move between Arabic and Western modes, which also makes her easier to place over modern chord progressions.
If you want the story of the voice itself, read Fairuz and the voice that still gives Lebanon hope. For how Arabic sounds mix with hip-hop and club music today, see Arabic hip-hop and the voice of the diaspora and When maqam meets modular.
How to listen to the originals
- Start with the original, then the new track. Play the Fairuz recording first so you can hear what is stretched, looped or pitched.
- Listen for the vocal line. In the Kanye West track, it is her stretched vocal that you hear across the beat.
- Read the credits. Streaming apps list writers and samples. Public listings such as BMI Repertoire show songwriter and publisher data.
- Go to the source catalog. Our Fairuz listening guide gives five songs to start with, and Arabic poetry in song explains why her lyrics land the way they do.
Frequently asked questions
Which Fairuz song did Kanye West sample?
"All the Love" on Bully samples "Fayek Alaya" (roughly "you are awake over me"). The credits list Assi and Mansour Rahbani as the original writers.
Which Fairuz song did Madonna sample?
"Erotica" (1992) used parts of "Al Yawm Oullika Aala Khashaba" without permission. The dispute was settled out of court, and Madonna's album and single were banned in Lebanon.
Did Drake sample Fairuz?
A sample of "Wahdon" was reported in September 2025. We could not confirm it on the released album, so check the official credits.
Why are the Rahbani brothers credited and not Fairuz?
A sample usually needs permission for the composition and for the recording. The Rahbani brothers wrote and composed many of her best-known songs, so they appear as writers.
Where can I check who sampled a song?
Check your streaming app's credits, BMI Repertoire's writer and publisher listings, or a sample-tracking site such as WhoSampled. Wikipedia's song pages also list samples when credits are published.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Fairuz (Madonna sampling, Rahbani brothers, 2010 court ruling, catalog figures; accessed 2 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: All the Love (Kanye West song) and Bully (album) (sample credit, composition, reception, chart info; accessed 2 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Hind's Hall (sample credit, release date; accessed 2 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Iceman (album) (release date and companion albums; accessed 2 November 2026)
- The National: From Beirut to Bully: Kanye West samples Lebanese artist Fairuz in All the Love (March 29, 2026)
- Headlines consulted for the Drake report: The New Arab (September 11, 2025), The National (September 14, 2025), The Michigan Daily Sun (November 30, 2025); L'Orient Today, "The Fairuz effect: Why the West keeps sampling her voice" (April 15, 2026)
- Beirut.com City Guide, "Something You May Have Forgotten: Fairuz Sued Madonna in 1993" (January 15, 2018)
- Fairuz (YouTube): Fayek Alaya
