During an interview with VladTV, D-Roc and Kaine divulge that the 'Empire State of Mind' hitmaker was not happy when their single, 'Say I Yi Yi', became a huge success.
- Jan 5, 2022
AceShowbiz - Ying Yang Twins divulged that Jay-Z once got jealous of their success. In a new interview, D-Roc and Kaine recounted the moment when the "Holy Grail" emcee accused them of "f**kin' up [his] money."
When speaking with VladTV, the duo first detailed their 2002 hit single, "Say I Yi Yi". They claimed that they tried submitting the song to Universal Music Group, but they did not want it. Thus, they ended up landing a one-album deal with Koch Records.
"66 thousand spins a week," Kaine boasted, before revealing that Jay-Z called them. "He said, 'I gotta sell a f**kin' Sidekick Motorola to sell my fade to 'The Black Album'. This s**t ain't cool. You new n***as f**kin' up my money,' and he hung the phone up on us," he described.
Ying Yang Twins previously shared the story when appearing on Hot 107.9's "B High". Kaine said, "This is where it's finna get juicy... Man, we dropped 'I Yi Yi' and it f**ked the planet up. 'I Yi Yi' was getting 66,000 spins a week … 'I Yi Yi' sold muthaf**kin' hard, we in the house mailing out CDs."
"Phone rings … 'Yo, this JAY-Z. You n***as is f**kin' up my money. I gotta sell the f**kin' Motorola Sidekick to settle my fade to 'The Black Album'. You n***as is f**kin' up money,' " he went on elaborating. "We didn't know how to take it. We tryin' to get a name of our own."
Noting that "there [were] no hard feelings," Kaine further shared, "So 'I Yi Yi' had went gold in that one year. 465,000 units." He disclosed, "Alan [Grunblatt] wanted us to come back, but he didn't want to pay us for what we did, so we left. Boom."
