Newswire Reissue label Numero Group accuses Jay-Z and Kanye of sampling shadiness

Chicago reissue label Numero Group is no stranger to fighting for its right to party, musically. This year, instead of going full-bore into the Record Store Day phenomenon, it ran a one-day, pop-up store for people who are more than casual LP flippers. It has also opted out of Apple’s iCloud system, saying the system would just not be financially worthwhile for the label, and instead put out a series of “look, this record is going to be expensive, but that’s because we’re making the packaging awesome because that’s how we want it”-type releases, all of which has resulted in the label being one of the more trusted musical truth-tellers in town, if not in the whole record industry.

Thus, now that Numero Group’s saying Kanye West and Jay-Z ripped off one of its own, living legend and hilarious quote machine Syl Johnson, we’re inclined to at least listen to what the label has to say. In a post on its site, the label documents its long struggles with West and his representatives after one of Johnson’s tracks was sampled in “The Joy,” a free track West released during his Good Fridays series. At the time, “The Joy” was due to be released on a deluxe version of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Numero—working on Johnson’s behalf, as it doesn’t own his catalog, but rather just helps him out from time to time—and Def Jam slapped together some agreement allowing use of the sample. Of course, that track never hit stores on that record, so Johnson never saw a dime and didn’t pursue further legal action because, according to his lawyer, it would probably have been more trouble than it was worth.

Fast-forward to earlier this week when Johnson discovered that he’d been sampled on the new West/Jay-Z album Watch The Throne, and that, in the album’s liner notes, it says the sample had been cleared by Numero Group, the purported publishers of the track. Of course, Numero Group is not the publishers and, according to the post on the label’s site, “any routine search of the BMI database would show otherwise.” So, the label’s taking the hip-hop giants to task, bringing the slight to public attention and helping Johnson, who’s apparently preparing to sue—hopefully for a bunch of money. According to Numero, “Island Def Jam seems to think that Syl doesn’t have any fight left in him. We’re betting otherwise.”

Those who want to hear the tracks’ similarities can click on over to the label’s blog post about this whole fiasco, where both tracks are streaming for listener comparison.