Method Man is not a fan of unofficial, stitched-together remixes — at least to judge by a recent Instagram post.
The now-deleted IG post, caught by AllHipHop, has Meth reacting to a remix by YouTuber DJ Skandalous of the song “Built for This,” from the soundtrack of RZA‘s film The Man With the Iron Fists.
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The original track features Meth, Freddie Gibbs, and Street Life. Skandalous’ version, which as of this writing has over 266 million views (as opposed to just over 1.5 million for the actual song’s music video), uses a new beat, removes Street Life, and adds parts of other songs from Ice Cube‘s group Westside Connection, Eazy-E and 2Pac.
Method’s post shared a screenshot of Skandalous’ track, and the caption decried “unauthorized remakes of records with fake collabs.”
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“This guy I asked him a long time ago to take this trash down as it takes views away from the original content,” the rapper wrote. “And he still has yet to do so.. over 200 mil views and not one penny to the creators.”
“No one takes into account the time and effort it takes to even make these records let along get these records, put out into the public for someone to come and do half the work and get twice if not quadruple the views of the original content,” he went on. “Whatever happened to IP rights..?”
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Meth continued: “I’ve heard my voice on beats I would never rhyme to and a lot of times the verses are offbeat. This is what we call hack shit and I don’t respect it. The main culprits are south central channel , golden age hip hop , and New Yorks finest to name a few.”
The rap icon closed with a question: “Am I wrong for standing up or should I just sit down and shut the f*** up?”
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YouTube remixes are not the only part of the modern music business that Meth has been speaking out against lately.
This past summer, he revealed that he’s yet to earn any streaming income from his music, despite his success as a solo artist and with Wu-Tang Clan.
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The rap legend made the surprise revelation during an interview with Wale Ogunleye, Head of Sports & Entertainment at UBS, that was released on Hot 97’s YouTube channel.
While discussing the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on artists and other creatives, Meth said: “I’m still trying to figure out AI but I have seen some things that have made me raise an eyebrow — the Drake diss with the [fake] 2Pac and Snoop, the fake Kendrick [diss songs]. It’s a lot to it.
“I mean, I think it goes way deeper than that, especially when it comes to IPs [intellectual property] for artists that came from my era. Because honestly I’ve never gotten a streaming check for any of my music.”
He added: “Like I said, I’m still trying to figure it all out because there may be someone who can make a perfect mix of the two where — I’m not saying to accept it, but at least make art out of it, and that’s what I’m always for, the creative part.”
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Method Man didn’t go into further detail about the ownership of his music or publishing and why he has yet to see a dime from streaming services, as he claims.
