Why Travis Scott Had to Give Up The Rights to 50% of One of His Biggest Hit Songs

Sampling is one of the most important, foundational aspects in making hip-hop. After all, it harkens back to the days of DJ’ing, where they’d spin and scratch classic records and rappers might freestyle over them. However, once money started getting involved, things got a little complicated. Then, they’d have to pay some kind of fee or they get a percentage of the song completely.

This fact gets even blurrier when artists release their work for free on platforms like SoundCloud. If they don’t make a profit off of the record, then it’s all null and void. But when you get a big hit song from it like Travis Scott did, the approach changes completely.

In a 2015 interview, producer Eestbound shared the behind-the-scenes process for his hit song with Scott, “Antidote”. There, he revealed that the Houston rapper had to cough up 50% ownership of the song they made together based on the sample they used from Lee Fields & The Expressions and producer Leon Michels.

Because it was initially uploaded to SoundCloud, there was no formal paperwork or clearance involved. However, once the song grew legs, the original artists insisted they want a much heftier cut accordingly.

Travis Scott Dealt With Major Sample Clearance Issue for ‘Antidote’

“It was kind of a weird process,” Eestbound said (via HotNewHipHop). “When Travis Scott released the song on SoundCloud, […] we didn’t even get any paperwork or anything or an email saying he’s going to release it. After he released it, it was kind of an issue because, you know, the [artist] from the sample told Travis that they want 50% of the record [because] Travis didn’t clear it at first.”

Normally, artists pay up a much smaller fee of around 10-15% to clear any given sample. However, due to the lack of communication and the song’s unexpected rise, Travis Scott had to cough up a much bigger amount.

“Antidote” peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it finally made its formal release on streaming services. Eventually, it acted as the big single for his breakout debut album Rodeo in 2015. It sits at nearly 450 million views on YouTube and remains one of the biggest songs of Travis Scott’s career. Rodeo also quietly proved to be a fascinating glimpse into the future of hip-hop, where artists like Young Thug, Future, and Chief Keef made star features and Justin Bieber teased becoming a certified rapper.

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