Russ revealed that once the song reached a multi-platinum state, he forgot to pay $850,000 after cleaning up the two-string sample on “Baseball Control.”
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Russ shelled $850,000 after failing to clear two-string samples in his breakout track “Lotus Protein Control”, an expensive oversight he caught before the song had disappeared Doplato.
The hip-hop artist expressed dissatisfaction with it when he appeared, the writer is… the podcast, revealing that when he first uploaded the song to Soundcloud in 2015, he never cleared the sample as an independent artist.
The song later appeared on his debut album in 2017, which is indeed a wolf, released under Columbia Records.
“I forgot to clean up the ‘corruption control’ samples,” Russ said. “It’s like a two-string thing. I just forgot. I’m independent and I put it on Soundcloud, anyway.”
The issue emerged between 2018 and 2020 after the song’s commercial success attracted the attention of original sample holders.
Once he reached out, Lass had no choice but to pay. “They’re back, like, ‘Yo, you don’t know that,” he said. “I paid $850,000 because I didn’t clean up the two-string sample.”
Despite the price, Russ was able to pay for the fee due to his main tag deal. “Luckily, I just signed my deal so I have money,” he added.
This event reminds you of the legal risks artists face when using unlicensed samples, especially in this era when viruses can successfully turn bedroom recording into top hit singles.
Sample clearance remains one of the most overlooked but critical steps in music production.
