Name me a hip hop song that samples Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car"

Xiu Xiu's cover of "Fast Car" amuses me.

Jack & Diane is 10,000x better.

xpost: on both counts.

Anyawy, whenever "Fast Car" comes on am I the only person to start humming "Jack and Diane" against my will??

Agree. Also, "Mountains o' Things" and "Behind the Wall."

fast car is surprisingly great.

sure, they're both based on pretty simple chords, but chapman's song actually has a melody and a lead guitar. and vivid, non-cliche lyrics. what's your deal, folks?

(if you disagree, sorry, i been drinking. i got glaucoma. etc.)

TC was a strangely oft sampled feature of the 2step uk garage scene. anyone else remember the simply terrifying version of that acapella song about domestic violence? very very strange...

there is no tracy chapman thread which is a shame. i woke up w/ talkin bout a revolution in my head and i really dig the s/t album.

This live version of Baby Can I Hold You is phenomenal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTF2qZbVnCM

oh yes that is graet

WTF Chapman?

In August 2018, Nicki Minaj released her fourth studio album, Queen. However, an unreleased track that didn’t make the album could have just as much impact as the album itself.

In the weeks leading up to the album’s released, Minaj tweeted about her frustrations over a track, “Sorry.” The song, which featured Nas, originally interpolated Tracy Chapman‘s 1988 track “Baby Let Me Hold You.” Minaj’s representatives sought a license to sample the track, but were rejected. The original version was scrapped, thus Nicki and Nas worked on a new version of the song. Subsequently, the song was left off the album altogether.

Here’s where things get tricky. The day after the album’s release, Funkmaster Flex played the song, leading Chapman to issue DMCA takedown notices for copyright infringement. Eventually, she sued Minaj for copyright infringement.

“Ms. Maraj violated Ms. Chapman’s copyright by creating an illegal derivative work and distributing that work,” says Chapman’s attorney John Gatti. “Moreover, these actions were indisputably willful.”

Nicki’s attorney Eric George sees it differently. If Chapman’s suit is successful, the precedent will make it illegal for artists to sample older songs without the artists’ consent, even if the songs go unreleased.

“In the process of creation, no one approaches the original songwriter for a license to experiment,” the court brief reads. “The musicians just experiment. If something works, and the recording artist wants to release the song commercially, then the record label, managers, and attorneys get involved and seek the required permission. If it is granted, the recording is commercially released. If permission is denied, the recording is discarded; no one is harmed; and the experimentation begins anew. Recording artists require this freedom to experiment, and rights holders appreciate the protocol as well.”

I like "Fast Car" and "Jack and Diane" and "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow."

and Wyclef's "Driving in my fast car/playing Tracy Chapman"