Sampling is a foundational part of hip-hop. Being able to take a morsel of a song and recreate it into something new can be incredibly beautiful. Not only can it be its own piece of art with specific context but it can also represent crucial parts of history. However, it also has the capacity to overtake the original sample in its entirety. Consequently, some artists can be a bit wary of other creatives utilizing their work. This was the case for G. Dep for a while.
During a recent conversation on Drink Champs, he says he felt a bit uneasy about Lil Wayne using his classic hit “Special Delivery” for Wayne’s Tha Carter V album. The Bad Boy Records rapper “felt some kind of way” and “a little bit bitter” learning about “Uproar” initially. Ultimately, though, his stance eases a little bit when he reflects on the importance of sampling in hip-hop as music and as a culture.
G. Dep Explains How He Got Over feeling “Bitter” Over Lil Wayne Sample Use
“You think about like the history of hip-hop like dudes do it all the time like and I just like it dawned on me,” Dep explains. “How many times have people sampled Big Daddy Kane ‘Ain’t No Half Steppin’?”
Nowadays, he looks at “Uproar” with a sense of fondness, that the essence of the original “Special Delivery” remains in tact. Moreover, he even muses on what a potential collaboration with Lil Wayne could sound like at some point.
However, someone that feels quite differently from G. Dep is the original producer of “Special Delivery” EZ Elpee. In a conversation with HipHopDX, he slams Wayne and Swizz Beatz for allegedly not crediting him for “Uproar.” The records and their use of the original sample, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Moog Machine, sound incredibly similar. Consequently, Elpee claims thievery.
“They stole my shit. I went into the comments or whatever, and [Swizz] is trying to downplay it,” Elpee says of the G. Dep record. “It’s just like if I took ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ and did it over and didn’t give him a credit for it. I know you need a record. I understand that. I know you’re trying to reinvent yourself. That’s dope. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, like, damn, my n***a. You trying to act like you never heard ‘Special Delivery?’”
The post G. Dep Initially Hated Lil Wayne Sampling “Special Delivery” on His Track “Uproar” appeared first on VICE.
