Lloyd Banks' "Beamer, Benz or Bentley," featuring Juelz Santana, came out of nowhere to be a smash. The song has been such a favorite that artists from Eminem to Joell Ortiz have freestyled on the beat.
Banks is grateful for the love from his peers, and last week, he dropped the official remix with a slew of teammates. "Shout-out to everybody who did the record prior to the official remix coming out," Banks said on Friday from Panama.
The remix features Jadakiss, Ludacris, Yo Gotti and The-Dream. "The fans, I think they wanted to hear something new, something fresh," Banks said. "While I was on tour, the international tour, I kept in communication with all those artists. Shout out to Jada, shout out to Luda, Yo Gotti, The-Dream. I had everybody's verse except for Dream. That was the last thing that came in. Those were all people I respect and people I would like to work with outside the remix. It ain't really hard to decide who's gonna be on it."
Banks also switched up the much-rapped-on beat, making the "Beamer, Benz or Bentley" remix almost an entirely different song.
"I had about six different beats," Banks said. "Just sitting with 50 [Cent], he brought it to my attention to try and change the element a little bit. Being that already 40 or 50 artists already rapped on the [original] beat, it's kinda hard to decipher what's the real remix. If they all rapping to the same beat, you can just patch it with the other 40, 50 artists and make a mega-mix and not know what the official remix is. The beat change lets people know off the rip 'This is the official remix.' I'm pretty sure they'll be blending the original beat in with it anyway."
Here, Banks breaks down how each artist came to appear on his remix:
The-Dream: "I had spoke to couple of different R&B artists. That's an element that I think helps. Everybody wants to be a part of that record. I don't think it has to be kept to one lane. I've heard Spanish versions to [the original], Jamaican versions to it, Haitian versions to it. I got a feel of what the melodic feel would bring to the record. The-Dream, he was already doing [his own version]. Once I caught wind of it, I was like, 'Yo, let me get that. Don't put that out.' "
Yo Gotti: "Yo Gotti, I had spoke to him directly. I spoke to him a couple times, told him I wanted to get something done with him. Before that opportunity presented itself, the [song] bubbled all down south in Memphis. I was like, 'Let's get Gotti on it.' He has the street in a chokehold. We'll probably have more records come in the future also. He definitely has a lane, man, and I wish him luck."
Ludacris: "Luda, that's the homie, man. Just through that, [it] wasn't really nothing [difficult]. Luda is out there bubbling, platinum plaques and all that, #1 records, where I'm trying to take it. Shout-out to Luda and shout-out to [Disturbing Tha Peace co-founder] Chaka [Zulu] for making that happen.
Jadakiss: "That wasn't nothing. That wasn't nothing but a phone call. I spoke to him a few times about the record. I had his verse for a minute. I had his verse while I was overseas and everyone was leaking their versions. We built the beat around his verse. He adds that extra, that lyrical element, that New York City vibe to it. I didn't want to stand alone on that joint."
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