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"A Tribe Called Quest&amp;#xA0;had already released two singles from their 1990 debut,&amp;#xA0;People&amp;apos;s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, before unleashing the album&amp;apos;s signature song, &amp;quot;Can I Kick It?&amp;quot; While &amp;quot;I Left My Wallet in El Segundo&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Bonita Applebum&amp;quot; showcased the group&amp;apos;s goofy and sensual sides, respectively, &amp;quot;Can I Kick It?&amp;quot; remains the perpetual party-starter and exemplar of golden era call-and-response hip-hop.\r\n\r\nBut while the group drew from myriad samples &amp;#x2014; the drums and keys&amp;#xA0;of jazz organist&amp;#xA0;Dr. Lonnie Smith; the slide guitar of crate-digger staple Dr. Buzzard&amp;apos;s Original Savannah Band&amp;#xA0;&amp;#x2014; it&amp;apos;s the bass line from Lou Reed&amp;apos;s 1972 Transformer classic &amp;quot;Walk on the Wild Side&amp;quot; that stands as the track&amp;apos;s most memorable and indelible element.\r\nAs A Tribe Called Quest member Phife Dawg tells Rolling Stone, Reed allowed the group to use the sample, with&amp;#xA0;one condition.&amp;#xA0;\r\n&amp;quot;I remember with [record label] Jive, there was a problem with the sample being cleared,&amp;quot; Phife recalls. &amp;quot;I don&amp;apos;t think they cleared the sample, and instead of Lou Reed saying, &amp;apos;You can&amp;apos;t use it,&amp;apos; he said, &amp;apos;Y&amp;apos;all can use it, but I get all the money from that.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;&amp;#xA0;Phife says Reed took 100 percent of the royalties and publishing and &amp;quot;to this day, we haven&amp;apos;t seen a dime from that song.&amp;quot;&amp;#xA0;\r\nBy 1990, Reed had been a fan of hip-hop for years. In author Peter Doggett&amp;apos;s Lou Reed: The Defining Years, the rocker said in 1984, &amp;quot;Some of the rap groups coming out of New York are touching on things that interest me and there&amp;apos;s some pretty good writing to be found in rap music.&amp;quot;\r\nThat same year, as documented in Dan Charnas&amp;apos; essential hip-hop history book,&amp;#xA0;The Big Payback, Reed hosted Rock Influences,&amp;#xA0;a show on MTV&amp;#xA0;asking musicians to invite their favorite groups to perform. Reed&amp;apos;s choice: Run-DMC. (Two years later, in 1986, Reed released &amp;quot;The Original Wrapper,&amp;quot;&amp;#xA0;his sub&amp;#x2013;&amp;quot;Subterranean Homesick Blues&amp;quot; take on hip-hop.)\r\nLooking back on the 25th anniversary of the album&amp;#xA0;and its current&amp;#xA0;reissue, Phife doesn&amp;apos;t begrudge Reed for his shrewd business acumen. &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m grateful that [the song] kicked in the door, but to be honest, that was the label&amp;apos;s fault,&amp;quot; the rapper says. &amp;quot;They didn&amp;apos;t clear the sample. And rightfully so. It&amp;apos;s his art; it&amp;apos;s his work. He could have easily said no. There could have easily been no &amp;apos;Can I Kick It?&amp;apos; So you take the good with the bad. And the good is, we didn&amp;apos;t get sued. We just didn&amp;#x2019;t get nothing from it.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tribe-called-quest-lou-reed-got-all-the-money-for-can-i-kick-it-20151117>