Powell 1

Carson Powell

Professor Hellmers

English Composition 2 Sec 1201

October 27, 2020

Summary of “How Dozens of People Own a Slice of a Hit” by Jonah Weiner

Jonah Weiner, author of “How Dozens of People Own a Slice of a Hit”, on March 7,

2020, shows the audience how several people even from different decades can contribute to one

song. Weiner breaks down the song “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott, a song whose DNA carries

strands of ancient genetic material along with multiple vocals and samples. The song begins with

classically trained pianist Rogét Chahayed, and the bass-line and percussion come courtesy of

Chauncey Hollis, better known as Hit-Boy, who are just two of the producers. Then we hear the

first voice over the beat, coming from Aubrey Graham, a.k.a. Drake, over Hit-Boy’s beat for

about a minute. Jacques Webster, whose stage name is Travis Scott, actually doesn’t appear on

his own song until a minute in, and with the appearance of his voice, includes a change of the

beat. Ozan Yildirim, better known as Oz, would be the main in charge of creating this beat. Oz

got the synthesizer sound included in this beat from his friend Mirsad Dervic, a.k.a. M-dee, and

also used a sound from Tim and Kevin Gomringer, a German producing duo who are known as

Cubeatz.

“Gimme the loot”, Scott raps, credits 14 different people, including Christopher Wallace

(The Notorious B.I.G.), and his producer Christopher Martin (DJ Premier). Through a variety of

other songs, writers, and producers, Kirk Jones, Chylow Parker, Tyrone Taylor, Fred Scruggs,

Kamaal Fareed, Malik Taylor, Ali Shaheed Jones-Muhammed, Trevor Smith (Busta Rhymes),

Bryan Higgins, and James Jackson are all credited just from the three words “gimme the loot”.
 Powell 2

The phrase “someone said”, is used by Swae Lee, born Khalif Brown, throughout the song as

well. Scott also tributes Houston’s screw music by including two pitched down a cappella bars

from John Edward Hawkins, a.k.a. Big Hawk, who was killed in 2006. Miami rap icon Uncle

Luke, born Luther Campbell, also gets a shoutout on Scott’s song.

Catching up about halfway through the song in its entirety, Harry Wayne Casey and

Richard Finch get credits despite appearing nowhere throughout “Sicko Mode”. The beat then

suddenly shifts and contains production from instrumentalist Mike Dean, who is an executive

producer of Scott’s album “Astroworld”, which this song is included in. Tay Keith, born

BryTayvious Chambers, is responsible for production in the final section of the song, including a

unique drum pattern. Chicago rapper CyHi the Prynce, born Cydel Young, gets the final credit

for helping Scott craft lyrics for the song.

 Powell 3

Works Cited

Weiner, Jonah “How Dozens of People Own a Slice of a Hit”, New York Times Magazine, 7

March 2019.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/07/magazine/top-songs.html#/travis-scott

Accessed on 27 October 2020