Samples are pretty much everything in hip-hop: its lifeblood and point of origin, an indelibly useful creative tool, and a commercial headache. Moreover, we always hear about clearance disputes, royalty splits, and so much more when one artist wants to use another's song. While that can sometimes be more attributed to the labels or management that these MCs work with, sometimes the beef can get in between the artists themselves. That's what happened recently with NLE Choppa and Mike Jones, as the former called the latter out for copyrighting a sample that he already cleared: his song "Still Tippin'," which became the instrumental for Choppa's "CMON" freestyle. Now, Jones clapped back.
"Don’t care about getting respect," Mike Jones responded to NLE Choppa's complaints. "Especially if the respect wasn’t shown 4 months ago prior to releasing the music without getting the business clear! I told y’all #Welcome2TheMusicBusiness #StayTuned For Receipts & I wish a N***A Would!!!!" In fact, if you look up the Memphis MC's freestyle, it's no longer available due to this copyright claim. This means that this isn't a situation in development or discussion in the legal world; it just happened quickly.
Furthermore, this is what NLE Choppa had to say to Mike Jones when this copyright claim came through. "Ion know if it’s Mike jones or his team but on everything y’all dead wrong for trying to copyright a song I cleared," he expressed on Twitter. "That’s some hating s**t especially for a young n***a like me that’s just tryna please his fans. Ion feel that I lost d*mb respect but it’s cool fasho!" What's funny is that this isn't the first time that Jones in particular shut down remixes to his songs much to the public dismay of the sampling artist, as this happened to rapper BiC Fizzle with the exact same song earlier this year.
Meanwhile, what do you think of this whole debacle? Is Choppa right to be so indignant or is it time for people to pump the brakes on reckless or undue sampling? However you may feel, let us known the comments section down below. Also, stay up to date on HNHH for the latest news and updates on Mike Jones and NLE Choppa.
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