Fat Joe shared some insight on people who use other's music without clearance.
During an Instagram Live session, the rapper was discussing Boosie Badazz announcing he would be seeking legal action against anyone who uses his music without clearance and how messy the court process would be as a result. According to Joe, he's never sued anyone, but he could've several times.
"If you use somebody's music and you sample it and you don't clear it and you don't give them no money, they can sue you," he said. "Me, personally, I have never sued nobody for that. And trust me, they done had 'Make it rain, make it, make it, make it rain. 'Or 'Lean wit it, rock wit it.' My shit's been jacked legendary. 'Shoooulder leeean.' My shit been jacked!"
Joe continued, "If I went to court I'd be like, 'Exhibit A — that shit don't look like 'Lean Back' to you?' […] I could've sued people for sampling my shit 10, 20 times."
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The Bronx native was referring to Young Dro's "Shoulder Lean" and Dem Franchize Boyz's "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It," which he felt both took from the Terror Squad 2004 classic hit "Lean Back." He also suggested Travis Porter's 2010 record, "Make It Rain," took elements from his and Lil Wayne's 2006 song of the same name.
In conversation with Complex, A-Trak reflected on unwritten rules to hip-hop sampling.
“I remember if you were a dude in the ‘90s, you weren't even supposed to sample drums from like the open part of a Premier or a Dr. Dre joint,” recalls A-Trak. “People would be like, ‘No, you have to go and sample the original break.’ I remember producers playing beats to each other, and the one that's listening, telling the dude playing his beat, 'You jacked the snare off this—you can't do that.' It's ridiculous to think about that now.”
Fat Joe has been in the giving mood lately. In September, the 53-year-old gave Vice President Kamala Harris a pair of Terror Squad Air Force 1s during a 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop party in Washington D.C.
