SAMPLED examines the skeletal production of a contemporary rap, R&B, hip-hop or pop song — Where did the loop, sample, or chopped up vocal providing the backbone originate? SAMPLED gives you the history, the context, and the insight.

It’s release day for Magna Carta Holy Grail, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t track down one of the samples Jay-Z’s producers used on the record that almost made the Internet explode early this morning.

This is a bit of an interesting one. The album credits for Magna Carta Holy Grail state that “Somewhere In America” embodies portions of Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “Gangster Of Love,” replayed by Booty Ooty Music sample recreation services. Sample recreation is a common practice in music licensing. When attaining the rights to manipulate an original recording gets too complex or expensive, a sample recreation service is often hired to reproduce the recording, mimicking it as closely as possible. It’s a cheaper option for labels because it dodges master clearances, and it won’t cut into the artist’s royalty share as much. But if you listen to “Gangster Of Love,” it doesn’t sound like there’s any piece of it in Jay-Z’s “Somewhere In America.” Check it out above. Do you hear it? Neither do we.

Enter Jimmy Norman. This Nashville-born songwriter and lyricist contributed to songs recorded by The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and Jimi Hendrix, but also released solo material, including the 1968 record Josie, an album that includes a cover of Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s “Gangster Of Love.” Norman keeps Watson’s original lyrics, but drastically changes up the instrumentation and vibe of the song, using a bouncy saxophone riff as its musical backbone. Listen above.

A replayed sample from Jimmy Norman’s cover of “Gangster Of Love” appears on “Somewhere In America,” the Hit-Boy/Mike Dean produced track from Magna Carter Holy Grail:

So why would Roc-A-Fella/Roc Nation go to the trouble of replaying a sample from Jimmy Norman’s cover of “Gangster Of Love,” and then credit Johnny Watson’s version? In essence, if Hit-Boy and Mike Dean (the track’s producers) used the master from Jimmy Norman’s version in their final mix, Hov would have had to pay out royalties on Norman’s master, and pay out additional royalties to Watson as the original songwriter. By hiring Booty Ooty Music to recreate the Jimmy Norman sample that inspired the beat of the song, Jay-Z and his team only have to clear the publishing rights to Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s version of “Gangster Of Love,” preserving a larger chunk of the royalty share for themselves. Say what you will about Jay-Z — he never ceases to make savvy, albeit cutthroat business decisions. If you listen to “Somewhere In America” above, you’ll notice that the sax riff sampled in the beat sounds identical (only pitched down slightly) to Jimmy Norman’s “Gangster Of Love” intro, yet Norman has no credit on Magna Carta Holy Grail.