Highlights
- Prince made more money from a hip-hop song he wasn’t involved in than its writers, thanks to clever business tactics.
- Arrested Development’s “Tennessee” sampled Prince without permission, leading to a $100k payout after the song’s success.
- Prince decided not to claim royalties for “Tennessee” because he liked the group.
When it came to songwriting, nobody was more prolific than Prince. The man born Prince Charles Nelson was in a league of his own, penning hits for himself as well as peers and musicians that he admired.
Prince’s influence was similarly wide-ranging. He was emulated by generations of musicians, regardless of genre. That being said, there was one instance of emulation that was so close that the Purple One was actually able to profit from it. Despite having nothing to do with the creation of a classic hip-hop song from 1993, Prince wound up making more money from it than any of the song’s principal writers.
The following piece will delve into the song’s bizarre history, and how Prince was clever enough to chart the song’s performance before laying claim to his portion of the profits.
Prince Was Sampled In The Arrested Development Song ‘Tennessee’ Despite Not Giving Permission
Sampling was in a state of flux by the early 1990s. Albums had become so blatant with their sampling of high-profile pop and rock songs, that artists began filing lawsuits and/or claiming royalties to ensure that they weren’t getting ripped off. Enter Arrested Development.
The hip-hop group broke through in a big way with their 1993 single “Tennessee”, and while the beat sounded relatively simple on the surface, the song actually sampled three different sources. The first two were rap records, and the third was “Alphabet St.” by Prince.
Those familiar with Prince’s 1988 single can tell: it’s literally the first sound you hear on the Arrested Development song (It’s also the title of the song). The problem was, the group failed to clear the sample with Prince, so when “Tennessee” became a top 10 pop hit, the Purple One demanded financial compensation.
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Speech, the frontman for Arrested Development, recalled being clueless about the sample clearance process during a 2016 profile with Atlanta Magazine:
“We didn’t get the sample cleared. I didn’t know to clear it… [Prince] could’ve demanded that the record be taken off the shelf.”
Instead of requesting that Arrested Development’s debut album be taken off the shelf, or that the “Alphabet St.” sample be taken out of “Tennessee”, Prince requested a one-time, flat rate fee of $100k. Speech and the group’s DJ/producer Headliner agreed. In their estimation, they made out like bandits. “We made way more than that,” Speech recalled. “So we paid it.”
Prince Waited For The Song To Do Well Before Charging $100K For The Sample
Arrested Development may have been an unknown group prior to “Tennessee”, but the song made them a household name in the hip-hop community. It cracked top 10 charts around the world, including the Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Charts. Here’s a quick rundown of the song’s massive impact in 1993:
|
Global Chart |
Peak Position (According To Billboard) |
|
US Hot Rap Songs |
1 |
|
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs |
1 |
|
US Billboard Hot 100 |
6 |
|
Canada Dance/Urban |
3 |
|
UK Dance (Music Week) |
12 |
Prince was cognizant of the fact that the better “Tennessee” performed on the charts, the more money he could make when he eventually reached out to Arrested Development. Tellingly, he waited until the song cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and contacted the group by phone only after it started to go down.
Speech told Atlanta Magazine that he failed to recognize Prince’s business acumen at the time, but has come to appreciate it over the years:
“He waited for the very moment it went down the charts. I think that was a testimony to his savvy and how he thought.”
There were no hard feelings between Arrested Development and Prince, and Speech was even invited to Prince’s estate, Paisley Park, while “Tennessee” was still on the charts. The rapper declined, but the two men eventually met in person in 2004-05, and even performed onstage together.
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Speech maintains that Prince is his primary musical influence, and that without his 1980s output, then Arrested Development would not have existed.
Prince Decided Not To Claim Royalties For ‘Tennessee’ Because He Liked The Group
“Tennessee” was an incredibly intimate song for the frontman of Arrested Development, Speech. The rapper penned the lyrics after losing his grandmother and brother in a short period of time, and he insisted that the song be the very first single that the group put out.
The success of “Tennessee” was personally validating Speech, as he recounted during an interview with American Songwriter:
“Every other song that I’d written prior fell in comparison. That song meant the world to me.”
Prince’s decision to take a single payment instead of claiming songwriting royalties was an enormous relief to Speech, as the former was well within his rights to do so. Prince was very litigious when it came to other artists sampling his work, but the fact that he enjoyed the song “Tennessee” meant that he was perfectly content with his $100k paycheck.
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Speech has been very grateful towards Prince in the subsequent years. He talked about the Purple’s One decision to forego royalties during his interview with Atlanta Magazine, and how things could have gone badly for Arrested Development’s career had Prince decided to be more aggressive.
“I realized that he really gave me a break. There were a few other things that he could’ve done [but] he respected what we had done.”
Speech has repeatedly been asked whether he regrets sampling Prince on Arrested Development’s biggest hit, but the rapper maintains that the sample is part of what makes “Tennessee” special. In the same Atlanta Magazine piece, Speech noted that samples can capture a certain “spirit” that is vital to connecting with listeners.
In the rapper’s estimation, a sample-less version of “Tennessee” may never have been a hit at all.
