A lot of folks were buzzing about the news that Lil Wayne copped a sample by A Tribe Called Quest from a fairly unknown remix album for new song A Milli.
This YouTube video attempts to explain it all:
The Tribe track comes off a remix album called Revised Quest for the Seasoned Traveller. It’s not as rare as the YouTuber makes it out to be (I have it on CD and vinyl). It was released on Jive in 1992 so the tracklisting contains early Tribe material, including a remix of If the Papes Come (never released on a proper Tribe album). The album is worth tracking down if only for the “Hootie Mix” of Bonita Applebum.
Anyway, the song in question is I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Vampire Mix), which contains one of the more intriguing credits on the album: “Remixed by Norman Cook.” Yeah, that Norman Cook.
My guess is that if Lil Wayne robbed the sample without clearance, he probably has the cash to cover the costs.
(Thanks to Eric for the heads up.)
What makes them so sure the same original sample wasn’t used?
I’m way behind on this, but that I didn’t catch wind of this (more than a week later) until I caught up on my SMS reading means that the whole thing is barely a ripple.
As Sammy mentioned, the original sample could’ve been used (though I doubt that the original artist was compensated). If it was merely a jacking of that ATCQ remix, it’s pretty doubtful that Cook ever got the green light for that sample anyway. So, the folks in the IllSeed blog peanut gallery are way off the mark suggesting that Tribe is owed a big payout by Weezy.
It’s also pretty doubtful that Wayne was even aware of the original sample.
I don’t know … though it’s fun to know where various samples come from, it used to be (and I think was probably more fun) to find those samples on your own and when you found ’em, not to snitch like the neighborhood tattletale. It’s basically the same thing that Premier was screaming about on /Moment of Truth/.
For producers, I think rather than having a “firsties” mentality when you stumble upon an obscure sample that’s flipped in such a way that it’s not easily recognizable, that should be fuel and inspiration for whatever you’re doing.
Oh well.
– jose
yo DJ AM flipped this shit last night at JAY-Z’s show, and shit was hot!!!!