Whoops: Tyga Fails to Clear MLK Sample, Gets Album Booted from Stores

Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 02/23/2012 at 1:34 PM News

The Popdust Files: careless world, martin luther king jr, tyga

Clearing samples? BOOOO-RING. Who wants to waste their time with that nonsense when there’s promotional appearances to be made, music videos to be shot, strip clubs to tacitly endorse? Youne Money rapper Tyga apparently pfffffffted the idea of making sure it was okie-dokie to use a sample of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech—and really, who could have guessed that anybody would even be able to spot that that was a sample and not Tyga himself?—at the end of his Careless World album’s title track. Whatever, what’s the worst that could happen?

Well, not being sold in stores is kind of a problem. (Not as much as it would’ve been in 2001 when people actually went to stores to buy albums, mind you, but a problem nonetheless.) Target, Best Buy and other national retailers have pulled the album from sale due to the uncleared sample, with Best Buy Public Relations Senior Manager Carolyn Aberman explaining “We did carry the album, but we pulled it due to the content had not been cleared by the Martin Luther King estate.” Target even posted a disclaimer that “due to a manufacturer product recall, the Tyga: Careless World CD that is featured in this week’s ad will not be available. We apologize for any inconvenience. Rain checks are not available.” (Geez, is that “rain checks” rub-in really necessary?)

Of course, if first-day projections are to be believed, it shouldn’t matter all that much for young Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson (yes, Tyga’s real name)—Careless World is expected to sell 60-70k just on digital sales alone. And think of the hype for people who don’t realize the reason why the album isn’t being carried in stores! They might think there are dirty words or sexual content on this LP!

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