Videos by According2HipHop
When Clipse dropped the grimy visual for “So Be It” ahead of their Let the Lord Sort Em Out album, the hype was immediate. But behind the scenes, one of the album’s most cinematic records was tangled up in legal red tape — all thanks to a crucial sample from legendary Saudi singer Talal Maddah’s “Maza Akoulou.”
Initially, Clipse fans who streamed the album noticed something was off. The version of “So Be It” that appeared on DSPs didn’t match the one in the music video — the haunting Arabic sample had been stripped. That version, dubbed “So Be It II,” looked like it would be the only one available to listeners outside the video — until Swizz Beatz stepped in.
In a recent conversation with journalist Brian Zisook, Clipse manager and music exec Steven Victor detailed how Swizz helped salvage the original. “Swizz asked, ‘Why didn’t you call me about [“So Be It”]?’” Victor recalled. “I told him, ‘I did—I sent it to you.’ He said, ‘I didn’t realize it was that record. Let me handle it.’”
As fate would have it, Swizz was headed to Saudi Arabia that same day — home turf for his creative agency, Good Intentions. While there, he tapped into his network, met with the right people on the ground, and personally helped push the sample clearance through.
“He said, ‘I’ll connect with the right people in person and get it resolved.’ And that’s exactly what he did,” Victor said.
Thanks to Swizz Beatz’s perfectly-timed trip and global connections, the original “So Be It” is now live on streaming — sample intact. A reminder that in the music industry, sometimes the difference between red tape and release is knowing the right person… or in this case, the right producer.
