Buckwild has blown the lid off a key moment in Hip Hop history, sharing that the Notorious B.I.G.’s “I Got a Story To Tell” was originally supposed to be for Foxy Brown.
During episode seven of Iconic Records — a Roku series which aims to uncover untold stories in Hip Hop — the multi-platinum producer revealed how a beat meant for the “Get Me Home” hitmaker ended up in Biggie’s lap.
AD LOADING...
“That beat was originally for Foxy Brown, and Tone from Track,asters picked it for her. He told her JAY-Z was gonna rhyme to it and she was like, ‘I don’t like it. I’m not rhyming to that,’” he said of Brown’s reluctance to hop on the track.
“I laid it, and [Biggie] wasn’t there. He came back another time and did the vocals with D-Dot [Angelettie]. And then the next time he sent the version of the song it was just the rough. Everybody in the studio was going crazy and I didn’t see it [being a hit] away. I never see it right away. We did ‘Whoa!’ and I thought it was just regular.”
Buckwild continued: “The whole song was recorded except for the outro, and when we mixed that I got a call saying the sample wasn’t cleared. The guy’s name is Andreas Vollenweider. I didn’t want to make beats that sound like nobody else. I found the record in a dollar record bin. It was a white dude with an afro that was kinda curly, but when I got the record home it was kinda dope.”
But, he wasn’t about to give up the track without a fight, sharing he had to call in the big guns to get the ball rolling.
“Clive Davis put in a call and asked him to clear the sample. He was like, ‘No way José. No, Jive Clive.’ So Puff said he’ll get Chucky [Thompson] to replay it. He’ll just take out some notes,” he explained. “We was in the studio and he said he wants to put something at the end of the song … it’s him and D-Roc and [C-]Gutta in the booth and he’s breaking this shit down and I’m seeing his genius and I just threw my hat on the floor.”
According to Buckwild, in a wild turn of events, “Foxy was there and she turned the beat [volume] down and said this was his hottest song on the record. I don’t think she realized it [was the beat she turned down].”
AD LOADING...
As for who was the New York Knicks player that Biggie says he allegedly robbed on the track — rumored to be the late Anthony Mason — Buckwild pleaded ignorance. “I didn’t ask him about it. I thought about it but I said I don’t even wanna know.”
Buckwild’s Iconic Records episode is available to stream on Roku now. His breakdown of working on “I Got a Story To Tell” lands on YouTube on Monday (June 12).
