Kanye West Sampled Prince On The Original Version Of 'Big Brother'

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speaks onstage at the Tidal launch event #TIDALforALL at Skylight at Moynihan Station on March 30, 2015 in New York City.

Kanye West and Jay-Z’s relationship has probably never been more tumultuous. Jay took a few direct shots at Kanye on his album 4:44, and has even poured salt in the wound a tad, and despite rumors of a reconciliation, the superstar duo appear to still be at odds. Things between the two weren’t always this ugly, and everybody remembers when Kanye even released a heartfelt ode to Jay on Graduation titled “Big Brother,” well now, it turns out Prince’s name could have been attached to that track as well.

Just Blaze, who is known to have one of the deepest and gem-filled musical archives the world has to offer, took to Twitter to randomly wonder aloud if the version of “Big Brother” that features a Prince sample ever leaked. “Just found the original version of Ye “Big Brother” with the Prince sample on the server,” he said in a tweet. “Did that ever find its way out?”

Just found the original version of Ye “Big Brother” with the Prince sample on the server. Did that ever find its way out?

— Just Blaze (@JustBlaze) December 24, 2017

The answer, of course, was an emphatic “No!” and “Can you give us the song?” from everybody on the internet. Just did not oblige, and he even pointed out that he feels the Prince-sampling version “isn’t as good as the one that came out.”

not really a flex. The original isn’t as good as the one that came out.

— Just Blaze (@JustBlaze) December 24, 2017

Alas, it turns out the track has been played in some form before, in a behind the scenes video where Kanye played “Big Brother” for Jay-Z himself, much to Hov’s delight. Check out a brief glimpse of the Prince version of the track at the 2:10 mark below.

Predictably that won’t be nearly enough to satisfy the rabid Kanye fans pining for a new version of a classic, and you can see some of them begging Just for a leak below.