One of house music’s earliest big djs, Junior Vasquez, settled a copyright claim on the track “WTP’ which appeared on the artist Teyana Taylor’s album “K.T.S.E.”
The album was produced by Kanye West. According to Vasquez, West approached the dj asking to license a sample from the track “Work that P*ssy” under his Ellis D presents Boom Boom alias released in 1989. Once the track was released, Vasquez realized that rather than only using the well known sample from the track as was the license agreement, West effectively took the entire track and solely added a rap from Taylor to arrive at the new track subsequently released.
Vasquez noted that:
“They referred to it as a sample so I asked to hear the track they made and was surprised that it was essentially my original track with a rap laid on top. I wasn’t trying to bash anyone or piss anyone off. I was simply after a fair license agreement for the song.
I’m still intrigued by how Kanye West and Teyana Taylor discovered my 30 year old song. I would love to know where and how they found it…I’m pleased by the success of the new version.”
Teyana Taylor has introduced the track to a whole new genre that I would never have thought imaginable. Who knows? Maybe it will inspire other hip hop artists and producers to take a look at my collective body of work to see what other tracks might have crossover potential?”
According to Vasquez, he has been credited with a writing credit on the track and the copyright claim has been settled amicably.
Listen for your self to each track:
