Sister Nancy says Jay-Z “did the right thing” when he sampled her iconic track “Bam Bam.”
While speaking to Billboard about her documentary Bam Bam: The Story of Sister Nancy, the dancehall legend explained why Jay-Z’s track “Bam” from 2017’s 4:44 remains her favorite sample of her iconic hit.
“The reality of him taking me with him to shoot the video in Jamaica was amazing. I really appreciated that,” the 63-year-old told the magazine. “Everybody has sampled the song, but he chose to take me with him. Jay-Z is my No. 1. He did the right thing. Everybody else was cheap; they didn’t even think about me.”
She added, “At the time, I had just left my accounting job at the bank, so it meant a lot.”
Per Billboard, the documentary chronicles Sister Nancy’s journey from Jamaica’s first female dancehall DJ to an international icon whose song “Bam Bam” became one of the most sampled tracks in music history.
The film also covers her years-long legal battle to recover royalties from unauthorized uses of her track. That fight began in 2014 after she heard her voice in a Reebok commercial.
She recalled, “I was in my bedroom, my daughter was in the living room, and she said, 'Mommy, look at this!' I saw this Australian girl [model Miranda Kerr] all over the television, and I thought, ‘They’ve been doing so much with my song, and I can’t even buy a pack of cigarettes.’ I couldn’t even buy a Heineken, which I used to love so much.
“Working my 9 to 5 at the bank was rough, and my daughter was in high school at the time. I had to depend on my mother so much as well," she continued. "I’m so sorry she’s not here to reap what she sowed—because I didn’t sow it, she did. 2014 is when I decided to fight for what is mine. And nobody complained because they knew I deserved it. They basically just gave me what I was owed.”
In a 2018 interview with NME, Sister Nancy recalled the time she heard “Bam Bam” sampled on Kanye West’s “Famous” off of Life of Pablo.
"Whatever way he takes it, it’s very good for me because it keeps me moving. Do you know what I’m saying? It keeps me working,” she said at the time.
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