Ultralight Beam is the opening track to Kanye West's 7th studio album The Life of Pablo (2016).[1] The track features vocals from The-Dream, Kelly Price, Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin, a choir, Natalie Green, and Samoria Green.[2] The latter two's vocals come from an Instagram video of Natalie praying and exclaiming "we don't want no devils in the house!"[3]
The track earned two nominations at the 2017 Grammy Awards. One was for Best Rap/Sung Performance and the other was for Best Rap Song, which it both lost to Drake's hit "Hotline Bling."[4]
The song was reinterpreted and covered by the Sunday Service Choir and released in their debut album Jesus Is Born (2019).[1][5]
Background and release[]
The song is said to originate from when writer and producer Derek Watkins, better known as Fonzworth Bentley, arrived at an LA studio and heard Mike Dean playing the song's chords. The drums were programmed by Swizz Beatz several days later. Watkins and Plain Pat retrieved some tambourines from this session that are on the song's final mix.[1][6]
The group was joined by Justin Bieber and his collaborator Poo Bear. A freestyle was initiated by West. This same freestyle, with Ye and Chance, is where the song's melody and the lyrics "this is an ultralight beam" originated. Many other patterns and words from West's part of the freestyle ended up on the final version of the track.[1][6]
The freestyle duo were joined by Bieber, who sang an a cappella. Bieber's participation in the songwriting process was revealed by Chance the Rapper, and later confirmed by Fonzworth Bentley in an interview with The Fader. However, he does not appear on the final version of the song.[1][6]
While editing the track, Watkins "heard" Kelly Price and Kirk Franklin in a choir and knew that they had to be on the track. Kelly Price went on to say that when Watkins reached out to her, she was told to "write what you feel." She would also say that she felt a spiritual connection between the two.[1][6]
Watkins also recruited Franklin and had him fly to LA to record his verse. It was said that Kirk Franklin taught the choir their parts in seven minutes. After the choir performed, Price and Franklin recorded their parts. Chance penned his lyrics and recorded his part later. The song wasn't officially finished until release of the album, and even then, received changes afterward.[1][6][7]
Producers Samo Sound Boy and DJ Dodger Stadium (DJS) have talked about contributing to songs on The Life of Pablo a month before the album's release.[1][8]
Lawsuit[]
In February 2019, Ye was sued by Natalie Green's legal guardians over the sample that he used to open the track.[9] The child's adoptive parents claimed that Ye sought approval from Green's biological mother, Alice Johnson, instead of themselves.[10][11] The Green family added that Johnson was not authorized to clear the sample since the daughter was adopted in December 2012. The parents sought profits made from "Ultralight Beam" and "additional damages."
In December of that year, Ye and his team filed a motion for judgment, arguing that since the sample was not registered with the US Copyright Office by the Green family at the time of the song's release, statutory damages or attorney fees could not be claimed by the family.[1]
One month later, in January 2020, Ye's motion was denied in respect to the Green family's claims on behalf of Natalie, who had been registered since April 2016 with the US Copyright Office as the sole owner of the sample's source. Ye's motion was granted by the court in respect to Andreia Green's claims, which at the time of the lawsuit could be based only on an in-progress application to be registered as an owner of the copyright alongside Natalie. West subsequently filed a motion to reconsider which was denied. In October 2020, the case reached an undisclosed settlement out of court.[1]
Credits[]
The Life of Pablo version[]
- Performed by Kanye West
- Written by MIKE DEAN, Noah Goldstein, Chancelor Bennett, Cydel Young, Derek Watkins, Jerome Potter, Kanye West, Kasseem Dean, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, Nico Segal, Samuel Griesemer, Terius Nash
- Produced by Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Chance the Rapper, MIKE DEAN, Rick Rubin, Noah Goldstein, DJDS, Plain Pat
- Samples a video of Natalie Green praying
Sunday Service Choir version[]
- Performed by Sunday Service Choir
- Written by Kanye West, Nikki Grier
- Produced by Kanye West, Jason White, Philip Cornish
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultralight_Beam
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/track/1eQBEelI2NCy7AUTerX0KS
- ↑ https://www.complex.com/music/2016/02/check-out-the-original-video-of-the-little-girl-kanye-west-sampled-for-ultra-light-beam
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_Annual_Grammy_Awards
- ↑ https://open.spotify.com/track/5anPHKl01TNpTe618GzX1m
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 https://web.archive.org/web/20180202205231/http://www.thefader.com/2016/02/26/kanye-west-story-of-ultralight-beam-interview-fonzworth-bentley
- ↑ https://www.xxlmag.com/kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-changes/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170518102433/http://www.thefader.com/2016/02/22/djds-kanye-west-tlop-interview
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20191016144406/https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-reportedy-sued-sample-ultralight-beam-2445610
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190212235235/https://www.tmz.com/2019/02/08/kanye-west-sued-little-girl-viral-prayer-ultralight-beam-track/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190323081427/https://www.spin.com/2019/02/kanye-west-sued-by-parents-of-girl-from-ultralight-beam-sample-report/