How Tanzanian Producer AXL Beats sampled Nameless Classic Hit ‘Sinzia’ on Pop Smoke Record
20 year old AXL Beats is a London based drill producer who has worked with the best rappers in the world. From Drake to Kanye West To Travis Scott, you name it. The young lad whose Tanzanian parents moved to London when he was little, says he started making beats at the age of 15.Barely 5 years into the craft and he already managed to sign a pub deal with Sonny Music Publishing in USA after moving there to meet Drake’s manager Oliver Khatib,this is when he sent the beat for “War” . He has toured Zanzibar during holidays and has somewhat a broken Kiswahili accent which he can barely speak, but understands as seen on this interview.
It is on one of his tours to his hometown, Zanzibar that he heard the 2006 classic record by Nameless and the intro melodies struck his mind. He said he couldn’t wait to reach his room so he can sample the record on his laptop where he makes all his beats. This is in late 2019,he latter played the beat to deceased rapper Pop Smoke who loved it and recorded “She Got A Thing” on it, which appears on his second mixtape “Meet the Woo 2”
Sinzia was produced by Rkay Pro, a Burundian producer who moved into Kenya where he made a name for himself through his craft, making beats. His jams had everyone hooked to his unique sound, till this day. Although Nameless brushes this issue off and says he was aware of the ‘sample’ since 2021,Rkay pro claims that he is not aware of the sample, until we tweeted about it and some friend sent it over to him.
It is evident that none parties was compensated on this record, or even credited. The song has been out for 2 yeara and it sits at 33 million streams on Spotify alone .A quick calculation shows that if the label takes 60%,the artist 20% ,the producer 10% and the sample makers(Nameless & Rkay pro)10%,they would have bagged atleast 1.5 million ksh,from Spotify streams alone. There are sources of revenue that we have left out such as mechanical royalties and publishing royalties. The reality is neither of the parties received a single cent, but who is to blame?
Listen how the sample was made below
