In the latest episode of Drink Champs, where legendary Queens rapper N.O.R.E and Miami hip-hop pioneer DJ EFN, chat with special guests, they spoke with the “self-proclaimed ‘Forest Gump of Hip Hop,’” MC Serch.
As part of their conversation highlighted in an article from Revolt, Serch argues that Nas owns a piece of Jay-Z’s catalogue.
The true story about that that’s really crazy [is] I’m the head of CHR at Def Jam and they’re about to put out Reasonable Doubt,” ... “And it was either Kareem, Dame and JAY — or Dame and JAY — [they] come to my office and say, ‘Hey, you gotta clear this ‘Dead Presidents’ sample.’ I said, ‘OK, no problem, just give me $2,500. But, just know we’re gonna have 25% of your record on the publishing’ and he was like, ‘Alright, cool,’ and that was it. He gave me a check for $2,500. I delivered it to Zomba. But, if you look at the liner notes on ‘Dead Presidents,’ Nas is one of the publishers. So, I said yeah, that line can live as much as it lives, but JAY don’t own a piece of Nas’ catalogue, but Nas owns a piece of JAY’s catalogue. And that’s a fact, though.
— MC Serch on Drink Champs
Watch the full episode below:
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