When Lil Uzi Vert dropped his Luv Is Rage 2 album last week (August 25), many fans on Twitter were quick to point out that the song “Sauce It Up” bore a curious resemblance to a beat notorious Twitter beat-spammer Beats By Saif had been sharing for months.
While it was initially alleged that Saif’s short snippet profoundly influenced the beat, that may not be the case.
As one Twitter user pointed out, the royalty-free melody that Saif used to create his version was part of a loop-pack that was posted roughly a year ago by producer KadoOnTheTrack.
KadoOnTheTrack himself also responded, clearing up any misconception about the situation. According to his Tweet, of one Uzi’s producers stumbled upon the same loop-pack and sent it to executive producer Don Cannon. He also noted that they have never heard of Saif.
AD LOADING...
Meanwhile, amid this relatively mild controversy, Uzi’s album is projected to move 110,000-120,000 equivalent album units — enough for him to debut in the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
(The original version of this article was published on August 30 2017, and can found below.)
If you’re an active follower of Hip Hop Twitter, you’ve likely come across a 21-year-old Detroit producer by the name of Beats By Saif. The notorious self-promoter rose to low-level internet fame by replying to every tweet by every major rapper, and often ending up as the top response.
Fans of the grind-god are now wondering if the musical minds behind Lil Uzi Vert’s “Sauce It Up” (Don Cannon, Ike Beatz, Maaly Raw and Michael Piroli) — which appeared on the recently released Luv Is Rage 2 LP — have also taken notice of Saif’s hustle.
AD LOADING...
Days after the long-awaited album hit digital shelves, fans realized the song in question bore a striking resemblance to the “Lil’ uzi x kodak black type beat” that Saif has been “spamming” since this past April.
“I found this royalty-free loop online a while ago and made a beat out of it,” Saif told HipHopDX. “Then I started posting the beat on Twitter in April 2017.”
Once fans pointed it out to Saif, he quickly noted the similarity.
“It’s the same loop — all he did was speed it up and change the drums,” he said. “The hi-hat rolls sound similar.”
AD LOADING...
It’s not immediately clear if this is a coincidence or if one of the four co-producers simply hunted down the sample themselves, but it may be a moot point since the loop, as Saif noted, is royalty-free. None of the producers have commented on the speculation as of August 30.
Regardless, Saif doesn’t seem to be taking it too seriously. In fact, he’s relishing the attention.
Many artists and fans have previously taken notice of his shameless attempts to siphon buzz and have blocked him on social media.
But sometimes his approach has yielded excellent results.
AD LOADING...
He was interviewed by Pigeons & Planes last month and also appeared in a live video with Ugly God — who informally interviewed the producer on Periscope.
“Trust me, them niggas see you — I swear, bro,” Ugly God noted during his live-streamed conversation.
Do you think Saif was beat-robbed by Uzi? Take a listen to both beats for yourself below.
