5 Massive Hits that were made using a Lease Beat
With the popularity and growth of Beat leasing over the past decade it’s inevitable that now and again a leased beat will take on a life of its own. And while most leased beats will happily reside on mix tapes and independent releases occasionally one will get a taste of the big time! In this post we discover 5 of the biggest hits built upon a lease beat.
“Old Town Road” – Lil Nas X
By far the biggest hit to have been crafted using a lease beat, Old Town Road topped the Billboard Top 100 for a record 19 weeks. The beat was produced by Dutch beatmaker YoungKio and uploaded to the beat leasing site Beatstars. It’s blend of Trap with a country flavour helped it stand out, catching the ear of then-unknown rapper Lil Nas X. This track alone propelled Lil Nas X to global stardom. Not bad for a $30 lease!
It uses a sample from the Nine Inch Nails track “34 Ghosts IV.”. The use of uncleared samples within leased beats is not recommended as it introduces potential legal implications.
“Ransom” – Lil Tecca
Like Old Town Road, Ransom helped to propel Lil Tecca to huge worldwide success. The original lease beat for Ransom was produced by Internet Money members – Nick Mira and Taz Taylor. The Ransom beat was residing on Beatstars when Lil Tecca purchased a lease. Tecca’s catchy lyrics combined perfectly with the melodic mallet bothering beat. This winning formula helped propel Ransom to a global audience via clever social media promotion, largely using TikTok.
“Thotiana” – Blueface
Thotiana is one of the biggest hits of offbeat LA-based rapper Blueface. The lease beat was produced by fellow LA based beatmaker Scum Beatz. It combines elements of L.A’s famous G-Funk style with modern Trap beats to great effect. While the beat was original leased by Blueface, as with many successful tracks built on non-exclusive licences, exclusive rights were subsequently negotiated.
Blueface also cleverly leveraged the power of social media to help Thotiana blow. The song’s success was partly driven by the viral phenomena of the #ThotianaChallenge taking off on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“Lucid Dreams” – Juice WRLD
Juice WRLD’s huge 2018 hit Lucid Dreams was original conceived using another Nick Mira produced lease beat. Juice WRLD wrote Lucid Dreams on his come-up. He was drawn to the familiar sample contained in the Nick Mira production. This sample of Sting’s “Shape of My Heart” had to be cleared retrospectively after the track took off. The retrospective sample clearance meant that Sting had a substantial share of the song’s royalties.
The success of this track led to further production collaborations with nick Mira and the Internet Money collective. This proves that a successful beat lease can help to propel your production career and assist in gaining high-profile placements.
“Murder on My Mind” – YNW Melly
Like many of the artists in this list YNW Melly was an emerging Florida rapper when he heard and leased the beat that would go on to launch his career. “Murder on My Mind” eventually went viral, propelling YNW Melly to national attention. The songs raw emotion and dark narrative reflected his notoriety as a rapper, in turn helping to boost YNW Melly’s career.
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