J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only dropped Thursday night and everyone collectively lost it on Twitter.
If you’re going through the album now, you probably noticed that J. Cole’s “Deja Vu” sounds familiar. That’s because the beat, produced by Vinylz and Boi1-da, flips the same K.P. and Envy sample of “Swing My Way” with almost identical drum patterns. Last night, Boi-1da pointed it out to his Twitter followers, tagging Vinylz and Foreign Teck (who produced Bryson Tiller’s “Exchange”) in an attempt to get an explanation.
Vinylz claimed he sent a video to Foreign Teck making the “Deja Vu” beat. Once he saw Foreign Teck post on his Instagram a video of the beat with the same drums, he made him take it down. Vinylz said Foreign Teck apologized for the mishap and said, “I was inspired. I look up to you.”
“He even offered me publishing on the song…why would you offer publishing if you didn’t steal it?” he wrote.
Foreign Teck eventually responded on Twitter.
In an Instagram story, Foreign Teck addressed the situation by showing his followers a thorough breakdown of how he made “Exchange.” He says in March 2015 he was on YouTube digging for samples when he came across Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo.” He decided to not sample that song, and chopped up “Swing My Way" when it came up randomly instead.
“Vinylz’ whole argument is that he used to send me videos, and FaceTime me, and used to send me beats,” he says. "Back when we was cool, way before the ‘Exchange’ beat. Way before.”
He continued, “I made this beat by myself in my studio with nobody’s help. I’ve had other people tried to sue me. I’m sure you saw that G Money video." (He’s referring to another producer who claims he stole ‘Exchange’ from him.) "You can believe who the fuck you want to believe. But ultimately, this is how I made the beat and you rock with who you wanna rock with.”
The story concludes with how the “Exchange” beat was formed from start to finish, detailing how he pitched it, sped up the sample, and added effects and drums. He even shows when the FL Studio project file was created (March 19, 2015).
Back on Twitter, Foreign Teck chalked it up to “politics as usual.”
