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‘Good Times’: Jamie xx, Young Thug And Popcaan Wrongly Accused Of Song Theft

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:48 PST, May 26, 2015

Good times weren’t had by all after English music producer and remix artist Jamie xx released his brand-new single “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” – a collaboration with Young Thug and Popcaan.

The single features a sample from 1970s a cappella group The Persuasions’ song “Good Times.” According to Billboard, The Persuasions were uncredited on the track, and Jimmy Hayes, current de facto manager and original member of The Persuasions, was adamant that they had never been contacted to ask permission to sample “Good Times.” In fact, Jimmy Hayes swore that he had never even heard the song.

“I don’t want to think that these people just went on their own to sample our music without any notification to us. A friend of mine said that he had heard it some place. He said, ‘I just heard this song, he was sampling your song.’ I said, ‘Sampling what song?’ He said, ‘When I heard it, I said oh, wow, that’s the Persuasions! That’s Mr. Jimmy!'”

Jimmy Hayes went on to say that he would have been open to the idea of sampling “Good Times,” had he been contacted in advance and had proper permission been sought, Spin noted.

“I like the idea of the younger artists going back in time and dealing with what they call ‘old-school. It doesn’t bother me that they wanted to sample, but the thing is we have to sit down with management and make sure that everything is recognized and on the up-and-up.”

What was curious about the whole drama was that the sample of the classic 1972 song wasn’t just hidden within the new single – it featured noticeably in both the song’s title and its hook. So why would Jamie xx – a professional and experienced remix artist and music producer – deliberately and so obviously sample such a well-known classic song without permission?

As it turns out, he didn’t.

And it seems entirely unfair that he has had to go through the entire scandal when he did everything by the book.

After the story of the stolen sample of “Good Times” broke, a representative of Jamie xx confirmed that the proper procedure had been followed. Official permission to sample “Good Times” had been sought and given by Universal, and The Persuasions had been properly contacted well before the release of the new single.

According to The Fader, when confronted with the new information, Jimmy Hayes admitted that it was true.

“I was told about it but forgot.”

[Photo: Astrid Stawiarz and Matt Cowan / Getty Images]

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