Big Sean’s “Control” put Hip Hop in a chokehold in 2013 without ever being released commercially, and producer No I.D. has now revealed that it wasn’t even meant for the Detroit rapper initially.
In an interview with Stereogum published on Wednesday (October 18), the Chicago veteran discussed the song in detail and how it was brought to fruition.
“[J. Cole and I] were talking, because I got a running joke with him, which is, ‘If I do sessions with you, I’m gonna make amazing music for other people that you won’t use.’” He began. “And the first iteration of that beat was made for J. Cole. And then I made another version for Jay[-Z], and then I made another version for Sean.
“So sometimes when I think an idea is special, I will work on it for a long time and make many versions of it. And sometimes people will be like, ‘Why you didn’t give me that?’ And I’ll be like, ‘I did.’”
No I.D. took us behind the scenes of his work with Jay-Z, Kanye, Beyoncé, Common, Killer Mike, Vince Staples, Saba, John Mayer, and more — plus his group Cocaine 80s, his solo LP, and the making of the controversial “Control.”
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— Stereogum (@stereogum) October 18, 2023
The track never made it to the final cut of Big Sean’s sophomore LP, Hall of Fame. Fans have speculated that this was because of sample clearance issues, namely regarding the 1974 song “El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido” by Quilapayún and Sergio Ortega.
However, No I.D. shut this rumor down. “No, ’cause actually, that’s all live instrumentation, it was definitely a replay,” the studio chef clarified. “But I’m sure that’s a good reason to say. It was a big issue at the company, too, it was a lot of stuff going on.”
The song in question took the music industry by storm in 2013, mainly due to Kendrick Lamar’s explosive feature verse in which he called out a number of his peers by name, including those rapping on the song before and after him.
Last year, Top Dawg Entertainment president Punch (real name Terrence Henderson) revealed that the Compton rapper apparently wanted to redo his verse but Sean ultimately convinced him to leave it as it was.
“We had that conversation like a few weeks later, I think he was on tour, and he sent me the song,” the executive explained. “He was like, ‘Yo, what you think?’ I listened to it and I said this is perfect. It’s the one. And he told me he wanted to give Sean another verse, but he was like, ‘Nah, keep that.’”
“It caught fire everywhere. When I seen Phil Jackson mention it in a tweet, I’m like, ‘Oh okay. This is different right here.’”
