The crew over at Acclaim magazine (who I have been writing for since 2007) have just given me a weekly spot at their new site. To start things off, I offered my take on the Lord Finesse lawsuit against Teen Wolf:
Funny little story for you. First time I visited the Rotten Apple last year, I was invited by my boy Chaze from GRIM Team to go and pay rap legend Lord Finesse a visit at his crib in the Bronx. Chaze had just done a record for Will Vill that the Funkyman had also contributed a beat for, and was going to drop him off a copy of the 12”. At some point in the afternoon, Finesse mentions that some white kid from outta state had made a name for himself using by using his ‘Hip 2 Da Game’ beat in a video that blew the fuck up on YouTube. So he throws the ‘Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza’ clip on, and I proceed to clown this Teen Wolf lookin’ chump’s rudimentary rapping abilities and his shirtless buddy. Turns out that no one asked permission to use the beat, but now that it had gotten so big, Miller’s people had apparently promised to buy some production from Finesse for Mac’s forthcoming album as a gesture of ‘good will’.
Based on the fact that Lord Finesse just sued them for 10 (Extra) Large, that clearly never happened. Turns out that these crabs actually thought he should be grateful for having his shit stolen: “When I reached out to these people their attitude was I should be grateful Mac was using my music to sell out concerts because it keeps me relevant”. Fuckouttahere. You really think the Finesse is gonna stand for this nonsense after that whole Fatboy Slim fuckery?
Some might say that asking for $10 Million is a cash grab from a washed-up rapper who has nothing better to do with time than sue white kids. Others could argue that rappers use popular beats on mixtapes all the time and no one complains. But this isn’t yet another freestyle over the ‘A Millie’ beat – this Miller character made a proper video for the song, which in the internets era is basically the same as releasing it a commercial single, especially when said video gets over 23 million views. This shit was nothing short of Hip-Hop Karaoke, which is all fine and dandy if you’re at a BBQ with your pals but when it’s part of providing that buzz to get to that next level? You’ve got to compensate the producer, like it or not.
There’s no way in hell Miller’s team could lace up a track with that mid-90’s feel as effectively, so they went straight to the source for that Summertime flow. When the song blew-up, they should have broken Finesse off some stacks or just stuck to their word and bought some new beats from him and this would have all been resolved. Instead, they acted like spoilt, entitled brats who were doing some old dude a favour by using his beat, and in turn Finesse responded the only way that was appropriate: Fuck you, pay me!
Mac Miller is co-signed by rapper the Gayme who is known to not be a stripper or a Bitch.
And lord finesse can tip both of them…..fuck a Mac miller goofy ass teen nick ferris broker looking son of a bitch
You’d think millions of views off of another man’s classic beat/track would be enough to get him to reach out more substantially.
Thing is Finesse is going to have a hard time since the track is only out for free as far as I know. Still, I’m sure all the attention will be nothing but good for Finesse who’s just put out a bunch of remixes and demos and could use the interest.
He should sue this clown for a percentage of his lil wayne mountain dew royalties.
Keep it ripping
Vid got millions of views, Youtube just settled with labels for there cut of music (major) used on their site. Go for yours Finesse.
‘I’m on that get rich list, but they didn’t call my name yet’. Let’s hope they do now. Get paid Finesse.
Slick Rick should sue Lord Finessse for jacking the piano from Hey Young World n that bullshit Dre song he produced.
stopped reading from the part you mentioned Chaze & Grim Team. Fuck those old ass bums. When I got back to reading my first thoughts were, good article…get paid!
Lord Finesse never cleared the sample with Oscar Peterson.
Shut the fuck up, Robbie. You are an idiot, stuck in the nineties…and i follow you on twitter, so what does that make me..if Mac was black, you wouldn’t say shit, so to top it off, you’re on some white on white…
fuck all these arguments.finesse should get paid. just because.
Cleared samples..all these motherfuckers up in here talking about cleared samples dont know shit about the context that hiphop grew up in, it is about what you do with the overlooked, the creative mind of the producer finding what others didnt, and created something new. Kool Hercs idea of extending the breaks of records into whole segments, while people chatted over them, that was taking a context and building something new out of it. Thats not whats this beat biter did, he created nothing new, nothing. He tried to build upon what another creative person showed us what one can do with a couple of second bits of Oscar Petersons music, Mac Miller being a lazy fuck, tried to stand on Finesse shoulders, thats ii and thats all. Oh and why Finesse is charging 10 is because he is expecting 2 thats why, so ppl can get over that as well.
Mac Miller obviously agreed to buy some beats and left Finesse hanging. And even dry snitched about some Oscar Peterson sample comment which was most likely spoon fed to him by his publicist.
Mac Miller should’ve just bought a few beats whether he used him or not.
If Finesse has a case… I guess he might as well sue. But neither party comes off looking good in this. I’m not a Mac Miller fan, and there’s no question MM should break off some bread and dead this asap. But it doesn’t look like he’s gonna do that. And now Finesse has to play the copyright police officer. Plus, the fact that Finesse sometimes pays for samples (when he has no choice) and sometimes doesn’t (when he can get away with it), shows that this is about working the system. Both artists work the system. Yup, it’s a business.