‘He was upset — I don’t know why,’ Game tells MTV News of using RZA’s beat for a mixtape track.
According to the Compton rapper, the Wu-Tang Clan producer offered him the beat to use for what eventually became “Heartbreaker” and told him “use it for whatever.”
So the Game did, he said, and the RZA later filed a cease-and-desist over the song when it was made available on the rapper’s recent Purp & Patron mixtape.
“RZA came to the studio, and he said, ‘I got a beat for you,’ “ Game told MTV News. “I said, ‘It’s dope.’ He said, ‘It’s you. Use it for whatever.’ I thought that meant ‘use it for whatever.’ I guess when we put it out, his camp or he was upset — I don’t know why — when it came through like that. But there’s no love lost. It’s always respect for RZA. I grew up on Wu-Tang. I respect RZA most as a musician and what he’s doing in movies and commercials. It’s one love.”
In a statement released through RZA’s assistant over Twitter, however, the producer said the track was for Game’s album, not a mixtape.
“The issue boils down to, we wanted to get the song on the album that was coming out for Game at the time,” the statement read. “We went to the studio that night and Game felt the track and it was all good. The issue came about when it did not make it to the album because there was not enough time to clear the track. We spoke with Tony Martin [Game’s road manager], who informed us that the track would not be used and if it was, we would be notified. Now, that being said, they put it on a mixtape and never said anything to us; and we got an offer to have the track purchased by someone else. So this is not anything personal, and RZA has nothing but love for Game, but this is business and in all fairness, it would have been cool if they would have just let us know what the intent was, because we began soliciting the track for purchase and it looks like this was a double sale issue when it wasn’t.”