Kanye West & Jay Z Have Issues Over Sample Clearance For ‘Watch The Throne’

Samples - a world of legal paperwork, clearing and potential nightmares. It seems the curse of clearing what you use has hit Kanye West and Jay-Z’s ‘Watch The Throne’, following accusations they’re not been paying - or crediting correctly - at least one cut they’ve utilised on the record.

Archival label The Numero Group claims the duo, and their label Def Jam, have used a cut from one off their artists Syl Johnson. A blues guitarist who’s been active sine the late 1960s, Numero say West was given permission to use vocals from Johnson’s ‘Different Strokes’ on a planned bonus track from ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ titled ‘The Joy’ - which appeared as part of the G.O.O.D Friday series - but never completed paperwork.

In a blog post, Numero explain: ‘Last summer we took a call from Syl wondering if we knew anything about his vocal appearing in Kanye West’s “The Joy,” which had been making the rounds on the internet via Kanye’s “Good Fridays” series. We approached the sampling house clearing the record (whom we’ve worked with on several projects) about getting it cleared. They weren’t sure what was happening with the track, but it was rumored to be included on a deluxe version of his upcoming album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. About three weeks before MBDTF was to be released, we got a frantic email requesting the immediate clearance of the track. After a little negotiating, we came to a price and a verbal agreement (one that is completely standard.) Paperwork to confirm all of this was to arrive for counter signature. Weeks passed. Then months. No deluxe version appeared in the market place, and our emails and phone calls to Def Jam’s business affairs department went unanswered. We spent the better part of five months trying to get paid, and finally handed it to our lawyer who recommended not pursuing legal action as the song wasn’t actually being sold.

‘Syl could have filed a more complex suit involving the use of his voice to promote the #1 album, but decided against it. Eventually Kanye was going to want to clear some other part of our catalog, and we’d get Syl his money with leverage. With only a non-binding email to solidify the terms, we began the arduous process of having the song removed from money making channels like You Tube, for which Syl was seeing nothing. We thought the song was dead and moved on. It happens all the time.

‘Late last night, we received a phone call from Syl — who was nearly in tears — asking if we knew why The Numero Group appeared in the credits to a new Kanye West/Jay Z album called Watch The Throne. We had no idea. The credits mis-identify Numero as the publisher of the sampled song (“Different Strokes”), which of course we are not, and any routine search of the BMI database would show otherwise. Wondering why we weren’t consulted on this new use, and baffled why we appear in the credits, for which we never asked, we contacted the sample clearance house. Even they cannot get a response from their own clients. Island Def Jam seems to think that Syl doesn’t have any fight left in him. We’re betting otherwise.’