Menace, who witnessed a rags to riches story as a bedroom producer working in a electronics store, to crafting one of hip-hop’s biggest songs of last year.
However, everything might not be as it seems, as the Northerner has claimed he is still yet to see proper compensation for his part in creating the song.
He told DJ Booth in a recent interview, “Mike Dean, Kanye West’s producer, he put a claim in as well saying that he did something to the beat and he never did. I don’t think we’ll see a check until probably next year. Right now, it’s just going through negotiations. The problem is that once someone puts a claim in, it just stops everything.
“I doubt Kanye’s paid anyone, to be honest. Kanye’s a funny one when it comes to paying people money.
“There was a situation with Future putting [an infringement] claim in because apparently, he said that ‘Panda’ sounded like “Fuck Up Some Commas”,” he added, “So we were just about to see the checks but there’s been a lot of delays.”
However, both Mike Dean and Future have come out and outright denied the claims made by Menace. In his own statement, Dean said, “The kid lost the stems to the beat. It had some samples in the original from a film. I recreated some of the stems enough to patch up the beat and remove the samples. I was gonna recreate the whole beat then I found a way to keep it. Major labels don’t play with samples not being cleared. The song would never have come out or cleared legal at Def Jam.
“If that’s nothing, then he’s right. He should have better file management skills if he works at an electronics repair shop. He should get facts straight before he speaks on my name… Menace, put some respek on my name. And thank god Mike Dean removed your samples, youngin. Should throw me a few points from his pocket my way, but I am doing okay with or without the “Panda” bread.”
The situation remains unsolved, but hopefully everybody sees their fair share of the spoils soon. Be sure to read our exclusive interview with Desiigner right here too.