Veteran Dancehall / Reggae singer Sister Nancy has one more reason to celebrate her legendary rendition of Bam Bam. The song appears as one of the 47 tracks in the new Netflix series Housemaid.

Housemaid, an adaptation of a bestselling memoir, tells the story of a 25-year-old single mother, Alex, played by actress Margaret Qualley, who finds her as a housekeeper. The 10-episode series, which premiered last Friday, promised enough reviews to get a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score from the get-go.

Bam Bam appears as the background track of a scene from the first season, episode three at about 9 minutes. As Alex vigorously cleans an apartment, the horns sound with the words: “One ting Nancy cyah understands, wah mek dem talk bout me ambition?” Seh, what makes me talk about ambition, some ask me to get wet.

Recorded in 1982, Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam was inspired for its refrain by the song of the same name from Toots And The Maytals 1966 and instrumental samples of the song from 1974 by Ansell Collins Stalag 17. The song appeared on Sister Nancy’s One. Two album.

Having been sampled over 100 times, Billboard Magazine stated, “Bam Bam is a serious contender for the title of the most sampled reggae song of all time.

Superstar Jay-Z sampled Bam Bam for his hit song Aggressive Hip Hop Bam on his 4:44 album. Bam with Damian Marley and also sampled Jacob Miller Tenament Court and Prerogative by Nicodemus, Super Cat and Junior Demus.

Sister Nancy, who appeared in the music video Bam said: “I just did freestyle Bam Bam, just like that I didn’t write it ”. Jay-Z, also known for his rhyming freestyle, replied, “It must be good to do something so timeless.”

“Good music will last, it will last, it ain’t going nowhere, and even when I’m gone where I’m supposed to go my daughter left saying it’s mom’s.” Bam Bam,” the Gwan A school DJ responded.

Some of the other famous samples and placements for Bam Bam include Lauryn Hill on her song The missing, Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa on the 2011 song Bomb, and the 2016 song by Kanye West and Rihanna Popular on the Pablo’s life album. Beyoncé also sampled Bam Bam for his live performance of Hold on from her 2016 Lemonade album.

Other famous artists who sampled Bam Bam include Chakademus and Pliers, who covered the song in its entirety in 1992 for their Everything she wrote album, and Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage who sampled the hook in her Girlie O remix with his compatriot Patoranking.

In 2015, the song produced by Winston Riley topped the iTunes Reggae charts after being featured in the Sony Film. The interview. It was also featured in the EA skateboard game. Skate and the cult Hip Hop film Stomach.

Royalty fee

For over 34 years, Sister Nancy had received no royalties for the use of the song. It wasn’t until 2014 that she saw the song in a Reebok commercial and decided to seek legal advice on her music rights. She received 50% of the property and ten years of past compensation. “Yeah, I’m getting the royalties now,” Nancy told NME. “Now I own 50% of the“ One, Two ”album. At least I’m getting something now, never had anything.

Weeks before his death, Toots Hibbert and his manager told The Jamaica Observer that they had tasked a team of intellectual property rights managers to run a thorough forensic audit to find out which musicians covered. Bam Bam and which entities and individuals have collected publications and royalties, without giving it the required credit.

Under the rules of the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), musicians must seek permission from the original copyright owners or their agents, such as their record company or music company. musical edition, before covering or sampling the work of others.

However, Toots, who was the author, songwriter, singer and producer of the original song and is listed as the principal songwriter in the US Copyright Office in Washington DC, had said he never received royalties for it. .

Toots Hibbert passed away on September 11, 2020 at the age of 77. It now remains to be seen what future actions will be taken by his estate to recoup the royalties from those who have covered or sampled his legendary hit single.