Producer Menace Says Future Hit Desiigner With Copyright Infringement for “Panda”
Update 2 (June 9, 11:03 p.m. EST):
Mike Dean sent XXL the following statement:
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. 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.
Update (June 19, 9:00 p.m. EST):
A rep for Future's team tells XXL it's "not true" that Future put a claim on "Panda."
Original Story:
While Desiigner's "Panda" helped him explode onto the scene and eventually lead to signing with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music, there seems to be more to the story behind the hit song. In a new interview, the producer for the song Menace revealed in an interview with DJ Booth that Future and Mike Dean have both put separate claims on the song over copyright infringement and production credits, respectively.
Since building up his own buzz after the release of "Panda," Menace has signed a seven-figure publishing deal with Tim Blacksmith’s Stellar Songs. This has allowed him to buy a new house away from his hometown of Manchester and focus full-time on producing. But he says he's still yet to collect a check for the profits made from the song.
"There was a situation with Future putting [an infringement] claim in because apparently, he said that ‘Panda’ sounded like "Fuck Up Some Commas,'" says Menace. "So we were just about to see the checks but there’s been a lot of delays so we won’t see anything until next year anyway."
As for Mike Dean, Menace says, "he put a claim in as well saying that he did something to the beat and he never did. I don’t think we’ll see a check until probably next year. 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 say that Kanye, who sampled "Panda" on "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2," may not be as punctual with splits payment as he should be for The Life of Pablo: “I doubt Kanye’s paid anyone, to be honest. Kanye’s a funny one when it comes to paying people money."
Menace says he's also given beats to ScHoolboy Q and Oliver El-Khatib of OVO, but hasn't heard anything back yet.
XXL has reached out to Mike Dean and Future's reps for comment.
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