“I know who I paid, dawg, Searchlight Publishing”
(AllHipHop News) Jay Z did not have to pay Nas a dime to use the vocal sample from Nas’ “The World Is Yours” on the chorus of “Dead Presidents II” and let him know that on “Takeover”. Ironically, before the world got to hear this verbal lashing over publishing, Hova himself had to convince The Doors’ drummer John Densmore to be able to clear the sample.
According to Densmore himself in an interview with HuffPost Live, he was apprehensive to the idea of Jay Z sampling The Doors’ “Five To One” song on “Takeover”:
“Hip Hop was just coming on, and I was like, ‘What is this stuff? There’s no melody.”
Jay Z then sent the reluctant drummer a Def Jam T-Shirt as well as a letter pointing out the similarities between Hip Hop and Rock:
“Jay Z wrote me a letter saying, ‘Hey, we’re fighting the authority just like you guys did back then'”
Check below to hear The Doors’ “Five To One” song that was sampled for Jay Z’s “Takeover”: