On Tuesday, a press release hit the web stating that Jay-Z had recorded a song titled “Crispy Benjamins”, which featured a sampling of Regina Spektor’s “Chemo Limo”. As we pointed out at that the time, fansite ReginaSpektor.org noted that the song could be part of re-release Hova’s recently released The Blueprint 3,
On Wednesday, Consequence of Sound received confirmation from the author of said press release, Jive Records A&R manager Ant Rich, that the song does exist and would be packaged as part of a “special re-release.” He failed to give any further specifics, going on to note that everything is “up in the air.”
On Thursday, MTV.com published a similar article, also with a comment from Rich.
“Mirk from the New Familiars produced a track (which I co-produced) that has a Regina Spektor sample in it … which is called ‘Crispy Benjamins,’ ” Rich told MTV News by e-mail. “Jay-Z purchased the track for The Blueprint 3, [but it] wound up not making the album. I was told by Jay Brown [who does A&R for Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint] that there was potential for the song to be used on a re-release. At some point, a press release was sent about the track using my contact information. Neither Mirk nor myself had ANYTHING to do with the press release. We are currently trying to find out who sent it out so we can clear up this matter.”
So, what’s the deal? Well, as far as we can tell, and as both MTV and Rolling Stone also speculate, “Crispy Benjamins” will be released at some point in the near future. Whether it will be part of a special re-release of The Blueprint 3 remains unclear, however, a spokesperson for Atlantic Records did tell MTV that she was unaware of any plans to reissue the album.
That said, the spokesperson added that the rapper will be releasing a greatest-hits album through his former label Def Jam. And the album could hit stores November 24th.
Ah, as the world turns…
