Rapper, producer, and (now) best-selling author Logic took to Twitter on Monday (May 6) to vent his frustrations over recent sample clearance issues, following a frustrating battle to clear the use of the late Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side” for the Supermarket soundtrack.
“Just want to take a moment and say, Fuck sample clearence. Fuck clearing samples,” he wrote, making special mention of producers who profit off of samples, and companies that control the when and where for clearance.
The comments rubbed many the wrong way, including producer and voice-over actor Issac Hayes III, the son of the late soul singer (and actor) Isaac Hayes, who called the comments absurd.
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“Publishing and masters are musical real estate,” Hayes wrote. “If someone wants to come and build a NEW record on top of someone else’s record they should absolutely be compensated.”
He continued — echoing numerous others — that Logic could be creative and not sample if the tedious task of clearing samples isn’t his cup of tea. Dipset co-founder and producer Digga added via Instagram: “don’t use Hip Hop to justify your frustration with the business of music and copyright law.”
Legendary D.I.T.C. producer Buckwild also chimed in, offering “as a producer you should kno who doesn’t clear samples.”
The original tweet stems from the song “Can I Kick It,” co-produced by Logic, 6ix, and Juto, which samples Tribe Called Quest‘s interpolation of Reed’s track. Unbeknownst to the trio, Tribe had no stake, and Reed’s estate controls — and is demanding — all of the publishing.
“Finding out Tribe owns zero publishing and I have to give up 100 percent of my publishing to Lou Reed, and not Quest is insanity,” Logic said in a lengthy explanation posted on Tuesday (May 7).
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He also conceded that the most significant issue he had was that Juto is losing out on the financial spoils of most significant placement of his career to date.
Upon its March 26 release, Supermarket peaked at number 56 on the Billboard 200.
