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Drake and Rappin' 4-Tay (L–R). Drake was made to pay $100,000 in 2014 for stealing lines from Rappin' 4-Tay's 'Playaz Club.' via Instagram
Drake and Rappin' 4-Tay (L–R). Drake was made to pay $100,000 in 2014 for stealing lines from Rappin' 4-Tay's 'Playaz Club.' (via Instagram)

Drake Never Paid Rappin' 4-Tay For Stolen Lyrics, Manager Says

Drake Never Paid Rappin' 4-Tay For Stolen Lyrics, Manager Says

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The Bay Area’s Rappin’ 4-Tay is still hoping to get paid for a verse Drake stole in 2014.

After an auction for royalties from Rappin’ 4-Tay’s song “Playaz Club” surfaced this week, his manager, Franky J, told KQED that Drake still hasn’t made good on a $100,000 payment he’d reportedly promised for lifting the lyrics for his verse on YG’s “Who Do You Love?”

Portions of the song royalties from YG’s “Who Do You Love?,” which includes Drake’s verse, are currently for sale on Royalty Exchange, an auction site for royalties. The auction also includes royalties for “Playaz Club” and Tupac’s “Only God Can Judge Me,” which all list Rappin’ 4-Tay, a.k.a. Anthony Forte, as a songwriter. Though the seller is not publicly named, in a phone interview on Friday, Franky J confirmed that it is indeed the San Francisco rapper behind the auction.

As fans quickly pointed out when “Who Do You Love?” climbed the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014, Drake’s bars sound almost identical to 4-Tay’s. Asked if Drake ever followed through with his 2014 promise to compensate 4-Tay for the verse, Franky J responded: “HEEEEEEEELLL NO!”

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Franky J, who produced “Playaz Club,” said that he and 4-Tay have been reluctant to call out Drake publicly and wanted to give him a chance to make things right. But, as Franky J told KQED, Drake never made so much as a courtesy phone call.

“You jack a person’s lyrics and you don’t even make a phone call? What kind of game is that? That’s not hip-hop,” he said.

On May 31, Rappin’ 4-Tay tweeted an invoice to Drake for the $100,000. Franky J says Rappin’ 4-Tay plans to address the situation on his next album, due out in January.

Franky J’s revelation isn’t the first time Drake has been accused of promising to compensate someone for their labor and not following through. Earlier this year, Drake said that he’d pay Shiggy, the creator of a viral dance that propelled the success of his song “In My Feelings,” $250,000. In a video, Shiggy said that payment never happened.

Bidding for Rappin’ 4-Tay’s songwriting royalties is currently at $38,250. The auction does not include copyright, nor mechanical or sync royalties, but public performance royalties paid most commonly for internet streaming, AM/FM and satellite radio, and performances in TV and film. Estimated combined royalties from the songs brought in $7,545 the last 12 months.

Franky J says that Rappin’ 4-Tay wants to use proceeds from the royalties for a new business venture: a nationwide series of events called Playaz Clubs, functioning like a private social club for hip-hop clientele.

The auction, viewable here, ends Sunday.

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