Following Kanye West’s sample of Desiigner’s “Panda” in 2016’s The Life Of Pablo, the latter was thrust into the super stardom that comes with a hit track and signing to West’s G.O.O.D Music imprint.
But, it seems there was trouble in paradise as the producer of “Panda”, Menace recently revealed that Desiigner was reportedly hit with copyright infringement claims from rapper Future and producer Mike Dean.
According the U.K. producer, he’s yet to receive any royalties from the track because of the claims that have allegedly put the process on hold.
According to Menace, Future put in a claim stating that “Panda” sounded very similar to his track “F-ck Up Some Commas,” while producer Mike Dean made the claim that he made changes to the beat and has not been credited for it.
A representative for Future protested Menace’s allegations, claiming they were untrue while Mike Dean recently told XXL that he did in fact work on the beat, but the battle isn’t worth his time.
“The kid lost the stems to the beat. It had some samples in the original from a film. I recreated some of the stems enough to patch up the beat and remove the samples,” Dean told the publication. “I was gonna recreate the whole beat then I found a way to keep it. Major labels don’t play with samples not being cleared The song would never have come out or cleared legal at Def Jam. If that’s nothing, then he’s right.
He should have better file management skills if he works at an electronics repair shop.
He should get facts straight before he speaks on my name. I let the claim go because I have better shit to do than fight with people over BS. Hope he enjoys the bread and appreciates what I did to help him make $$. That’s about it. Menace, put some respek on my name.
And thank god Mike Dean removed your samples, youngin. Should throw me a few points from his pocket my way, but I am doing ok with or without the “Panda” bread.
P.S. He should also thank Plain Pat (the best A&R in the world and my favorite co-producer) who made us (G.O.O.D. Music) all aware of “Panda” in the first place.”
“I don’t think we’ll see a check until probably next year,” Menace told DJ Booth . “Right now, it’s just going through negotiations. The problem is that once someone puts a claim in, it just stops everything.”
Menace went on to tell the site that Dean and Future aren’t the only ones getting in the way of his payout.
“I doubt Kanye’s paid anyone, to be honest,” he said of Kanye West’s use of various artists on his TLOP album. “Kanye’s a funny one when it comes to paying people money.”
