Kanye and Jay-Z dropped their monumental 'Otis' single a few days ago. The public loved it. More importantly, Karla Redding-Andrews loved it. She's the daughter of Otis Redding, the man who was sampled on the record. Billboard had a little chit chat with her about the whole thing.
According to Billboard >>
According to a track listing posted on Jay-Z's lifestyle website Life + Times, "Otis" is credited as featuring Redding, who was tragically killed in 1967 in a plane crash that also killed four members of the Bar-Kays, when he was just 26 years old. Billboard spoke with Redding's daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews, who serves as project director of the Big "O" Youth Educational Dream Foundation and is currently making plans for the group's annual event set to tie in with the 70th Birthday Celebration of Otis Redding in Macon, Ga., this September. She had much to say about "Otis" and how the sample was cleared.
When did you first hear about "Otis"?
We first heard about the song in early July, end of June. Concord Music Group has the masters and Bill Belmont and Michele Smith from Concord brought it to us. There was a back and forth about whether the name of the song would be "Otis" or "Otis Redding." And we just wanted to make sure lyrics and references in the song worked with the legacy of my father. To have two current, legendary artists use the legendary music of Otis Redding-we were quite honored.
This wasn't the first time an Otis Redding song has been sampled. Do you often get requests to use your father's material?
Surprisingly, requests come very often. We have a strong partnership with Concord Music and Universal Music Publishing Group and they screen every request before they come to us. This was not the first time that Kanye has used a sample. He also used one for "Gone" from Late Registration. He must be a fan.
Did you ever meet with Jay-Z or West during the process?
No, we never met with them. It all went through the record companies. That's the nature of the business and it's probably better that way. [If we met with them], we would probably bring more personal considerations into it. But this is a wonderful opportunity. We really like the song and the swagger elements that are in the song. It speaks to the star that Otis was in his day.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
