Russ has disclosed that he had to pay around $1 million for the rights to a song from 2015 after he failed to properly clear a sample.
Speaking on the And the Writer Is… podcast, Russ disclosed that he did not obtain the proper clearance for a sample that was utilized in his big hit song “Losin Control” until the song became popular.
“I got fucked with that song,” he added. since it wasn’t until it was almost four times platinum that I realized I needed to clean the sample. When I made it in 2015, I most likely could have cleared it. But in 2015, I knew no one. I’m simply a basement kid. However, I think I could have paid $5,000 to clear it back then.
Russ added: “The song comes out, goes on the album, I forget about it to the point where I’m like, ‘I don’t even remember if I sampled that.’ And then I was like, Oh fuck, I did…So the sample holder came…So I had to cut a check for like $850,000. It was an expensive fuck up.”
“Losin Control”, which ended up going eight times platinum in the US, sampled Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Behind the Bank”.
The popular dance artist has never commented on the sample issue.
Russ recently criticized the alleged glamorization of substance abuse in Hip Hop.
Talking to Aria Nejati on his Apple Music show, the New Jersey native revisited his controversial post from 2017 where he shared a photo of himself rocking a shirt that read, “How much Xans and Lean do you have to do before you realize you’re a fucking loser.”
“That shit needed to be said. Somebody within that space needed to call out the glorification of substance abuse – especially from a social media standpoint,” he said.
“Just [how people are] trying make it look cool to people and not understanding the responsibility and even within the music, not understanding the impact and influence you have over kids. I’m not saying I’m the perfect role model, but I just think as an artist, you can either inspire people to self destruct or you can inspire people to self improve.”
He added: “And I think a lot of the music coming out right is inspiring you to self destruct. It’s the glorification of self-destruction.”
