THE BATTLE OVER ICONIC HIT SINGLE
October 7, 2021
Many consider the word “Music” as a lyrical and instrument expression of love that transcends all genres. One can see it as a concept that is supposed to be infested with lyrical peace and harmony amongst musicians. Nonetheless, artists will likely cross paths with uttered words that will mirror each other. We would be lying to ourselves if contents or phrases were solely that of one specific artist. Realistically speaking, all of us learn different words as we mature and expand our vocabularies. A perfect example is that of writers in the music industry. As technology advances, so does rights and ownership of intellectual properties and copyrights. Somewhere, somehow, a chart topping musician work will be sampled by a fellow artist mostly from another genre. The problem can be complicated and tricky especially when it’s from the same culture. Throughout the years, music lovers worldwide have come to appreciate and love both versions of the Reggae classic “BAM BAM”.
The single was recorded by The Maytals in 1966 and won the “Jamaica Festival Song Competition” that year. At the time, Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, OJ, was both front man and lead singer for the group and expressed that he wrote and arranged the song. The late singer further argued that he never collected a cent for his work. Sister Nancy’s 1982 version of “Bam Bam” has dominated the charts and gained worldwide popularity for decades. It was produced by Winston Riley who utilized the chorus of the festival song by Toots & The Maytals. It used an instrumental which samples Ansell Collins’ 1974 song Stalag 17. Unfortunately, Riley died on January 2012. Under the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) rules, musicians must seek permission from the original copyright owners or their agents, such as their record company or music publishing company, before covering or sampling the work of others.
The legal team representing Toots Hibbert’s estate is still researching and pursuing royalties for the late singer’s rights to the song. Sister Nancy’s rendition of the song was featured on a Reebok commercial and is one of 47 tracks on Netflix’s new 10-episode series “Maid”. Clearly one can see that Nancy’s version is getting main stream attention which equates to financial rewards for the female legend. Before Toots passed, he had instructed a team of intellectual property managers to investigate who had been collecting publishing and royalties, as he had never collected anything from the original song. Though Hibbert is the writer, arranger, composer, singer and producer of the original song, the version by Nancy is slightly different. Sad to say, Toots Hibbert died on September 11, 2020 of COVID-19 complications. He was 77.
Sister Nancy is still performing and enjoying the rewards she sowed back in the early 80’s with her version. Here are some other accomplishments from Nancy’s version of “Bam Bam”:
Featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 film Belly.
Lauryn Hill interpolated it in her song, Lost Ones, from the 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Reebok used the song in a 2014 commercial.
Kanye West featuring Rihanna sampled “Bam Bam” on the 2016 song Famous from The Life of Pablo.
Beyoncé used a sample of Bam Bam interpolated with her live performance of Hold Up from her 2016 album Lemonade.
Jay-Z sampled the song from the 2017 album 4:44. Jay-Z actually travelled to Jamaica to record the music video for Bam. While on his visit, he met Sister Nancy, who is also featured in the video.