Rapper Ye has come under fire after releasing a snippet of his new song "Everybody," which heavily samples the Backstreet Boys hit "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"—and all without the iconic boy band's explicit permission.
In the lead-up to Ye's forthcoming collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, a snippet from the track Vultures has created a buzz among fans. The preview features Ye walking towards a balcony overlooking Miami, with a track that samples the Backstreet Boys' 1997 hit playing in the background.
The use of this sample, however, has stirred controversy. The Backstreet Boys told TMZ that Ye didn't seek permission from any members of the team, and the song that uses the sample was included in the album's tracklist.
With the rumored imminent release of the album, the absence of permission presents a hurdle for the rapper duo.
You can hear the preview for Ye's new song below.
At a Miami event hosted by Ye, which featured a star-studded lineup including Lil Durk, Offset, Freddie Gibbs, Kodak Black, Chris Brown, and even daughter North West on stage, the song "Everybody" was played for the crowd.
There's been no response from Ye's team regarding potential changes to the tracklist or the release date.
This news has not helped the rapper's public image, which has been in tatters since he lost sponsorships and partnerships for making a series of antisemitic statements.
On social media, commenters didn't pull any punches.
Reports from Variety suggest that the legalities around the song's use are intricate.
Rather than directly sampling the boy band, the track features a reinterpreted chorus by Charlie Wilson, joining West, Ty Dolla $ign, and Lil Baby on the song—an interpolation, or essentially a cover of a segment re-sung or re-played in another song.
This kind of use requires permission only from the song's publisher, as it doesn't include a recording. Since the Backstreet Boys aren't credited as writers for the song, attributed to Swedish hitmaker Max Martin and his late mentor, Denniz Pop, the group lacked legal control over the song's use.
Martin's or Pop's estate might have blocked it, but evidently did not.
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