Earlier in the month, Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am faced heavy criticism from music fans following the release of the Chris Brown-assisted “Let’s Go,” a record that heavily samples European duo Arty and Mat Zo’s “Rebound.”
Billboard.com recently caught up with will.i.am to get his thoughts on the controversy surrounding the song, which is featured on his newly-released #willpower album. According to will.i.am, an alternate version of “Rebound” was created by Arty for his use, but he instead opted for the production on the original version of the song.
“Arty is a dope producer so I wrote this song to ‘Rebound’ this last year. I got in touch with Arty and showed it to him, did a different version to it ’cause I asked him [to] make it newer ’cause I don’t just wanna take your song and rap over it…We preferred writing over and using the [original] “Rebound.’ Something happened and the clearance…hopefully we resolved the issue,” said will.i.am.
AD LOADING...
The pair lashed out at will.i.am earlier in the month for his alleged, unapproved use of their song via Twitter, with Arty stating that, “They never cleared rights through Anjunabeats, who’s only one label, who ownes the rights for ‘Rebound’.”
They never cleared rights through Anjunabeats, who’s only one label, who ownes the rights for “Rebound”.
— Arty (@arty_music) April 16, 2013
AD LOADING...
As of now, it’s unclear if Arty and Mat Zo plan on taking any legal action.