Now that Kanye & Jay-z’s Otis has leaked, Billboard reached out to Otis Redding’s daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews to discuss how the sample was cleared and her views of the song.
When did you first hear about “Otis�
We first heard about the song in early July, end of June. Concord Music Group has the masters and Bill Belmont and Michele Smith from Concord brought it to us. There was a back and forth about whether the name of the song would be “Otis†or “Otis Redding.†And we just wanted to make sure lyrics and references in the song worked with the legacy of my father. To have two current, legendary artists use the legendary music of Otis Redding-we were quite honored.
Late June to now — that’s a pretty quick turnaround, isn’t it?
It was pretty fast and all came together really quick. With these talented musicians they have so many songs. It’s not until it comes time to pull together a project and they know what songs are going to be on the album that they look to get all the clearances before the song leaks. They brought it to us first and we really appreciate that respect.
Did you ever meet with Jay-Z or West during the process?
No, we never met with them. It all went through the record companies. That’s the nature of the business and it’s probably better that way. [If we met with them], we would probably bring more personal considerations into it. But this is a wonderful opportunity. We really like the song and the swagger elements that are in the song. It speaks to the star that Otis was in his day.
