I usually don’t write about Lil Wayne on this blog, mainly because I think the dude is way overhyped for his own good. Anyway, I am diggin’ Wayne’s new album track “LaLaLa” which was leaked to the Internet this week, not because of the rapping (please!) but for the beat itself.

Turns out that the beat might have been jacked. UK DJ/Producer Mistajam exclaims on his blog that the beat actually comes from a track that he produced in 2003 off of a sample by Earth, Wind, and Fire:

Back in the days, I made some beats and did some songs (I won’t go as far as to say I was a producer, but I may go back to it in the future – anyway, I digress). One of the songs I did was with Wu Tang affiliate and all round nice emcee Shabazz The Disciple called “Red Hook Day”. It was released in the US on an independent record label in 2003 but never got released over here. It got quite a lot of love in the US – lots of radio spins, backing from some of the big names in Hip Hop such as DJ Premier, Funk Flex etc… #3 in boombap.com’s top 10 tracks of 2003, licensed to a load of compilations/TV shows/films etc… If it had the right label behind it, it would have been a lot bigger.

Compare both tracks here:

Mistajam Beat

Lil Wayne Beat

To be fair, Mark Ronson reworks the same beat on Rymefest’s album, and he gets a pass from Mista cause it sounds nothing like the original track. But as far as Wayne goes, proof is in the pudding. Looks like someone is in need of some compensation.