Iggy Azalea did everything she could to start a conversation around her new song "Sally Walker." She put famous drag queens in the video. She started the track off with an abrupt shot of a woman being hit by a car. She set the rest of the video to a twerk-filled take on a jazz funeral. And this time, the wider hip-hop world took notice.
Unfortunately, the attention being paid to the song comes with the same sort of allegations of lifting sounds that have dogged the Australian artist her whole career. Sharp-eared fans couldn't help but notice that the beat to "Sally Walker" bears more than a passing resemblance to Cardi B's mega-hit "Money." There's a very good reason for this and the blame doesn't lie with Iggy: Producer JWhiteDidIt found a way to double his bag, making a similar beat for both Iggy's latest and Cardi's smash.
He's also the producer behind Bardi's two-time Grammy-nominated breakout song "Bodak Yellow," and he went with what works while following up Invasion of Privacy with "Money." "If you can’t tell, she likes her beats to rock a certain way," J. White said of Cardi. "Since I first worked with her to now, she knows how she likes her hi-hat. I’m like, 'Dang, girl. You’ve been studying or something? What’s going on? You done came back like Quincy Jones.'”
It's unclear if Iggy was looking for something like "Money" but the talented beatsmith came through with an instrumental that adheres to a similar formula, and Twitter definitely noticed. Listeners noted how closely the track hews to both "Money" and Mike Will's Kendrick Lamar track "Humble." Of course, finding a sound that people enjoy and riding it until the wheels fall off is what pop music is all about. Plenty of people not named Dijon McFarlane ate off of Mustardwave, including Iggy herself in her star-making hit "Fancy," among other The New Classic cuts.
J. White acknowledged it himself, saying he's ready for a mashup:
Still, Twitter will take any opportunity it can to land body blows. Take a look at some of the best reactions to the eerily similar songs below.
