Gang of Four Talk Being Sampled by Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean sampled Gang of Four’s song “Love Like Anthrax” for his track “Futura Free,” taken off his latest studio album Blonde. In a new interview with Brooklyn Vegan, guitarist Andy Gill talks about how Ocean’s camp reached out to the band to clear the sample. “Frank Ocean’s management got in touch with me in November of last year saying that Frank was building a song which featured a loop from “Anthrax” and could he have permission to use it,” Gill said. “My first thought was that this is fairly unusual for people to be that up front and honest. Most bands just take Gang of Four ideas and dress them up a little and call them their own!”

Gill goes on to explain how Ocean’s manager played him “Futura Free” over the phone, calling the experience “a little bit surreal” as he couldn’t properly hear it. When asked if he knew how big of a deal it would be, he replied, “Because it’s Frank Ocean, it was obviously going to be a big deal.”

 

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