Drake sampling Montell Jordan on 2021’s “Papi’s Home” led to the latter being finally able to break even on his Def Jam contract after nearly 30 years.
Appearing on the We Sound Crazy podcast recently, Montell shared his reaction to the song, which samples his 1995 track, “Daddy’s Home.”
“Nobody cleared it with me so I didn’t know. So it was a wild surprise,” he revealed. “The content in the song with the language and stuff like that is stuff that’s not on brand for me, but it’s on brand for him. And it advanced the publishing of the original song more, which allowed me to recoup faster.
“So literally after Certified Loverboy dropped, my recoupment of my publishing and royalties literally – I finally recouped with Def Jam after 28 years, really 29.”
Drake sampling Daddy’s Home on Papi’s Home helped Montell Jordan finally recoup from Def Jam—29 years after the original dropped pic.twitter.com/oBjtmOcRe8
— RNB RADAR (@RNB_RADAR) May 5, 2025
During an interview a few years back, Montell Jordan shared quite the story about his first meeting with Russell Simmons to discuss signing with Def Jam Recordings.
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In a sit-down with Vlad TV, the “This Is How We Do It” singer described a long night that started with a solo meal at the Time Cafe among the likes of Warren G and Chris Rock. He was eventually invited upstairs to Simmons’ penthouse – where he failed to be directly acknowledged by the music executive.
“He doesn’t say anything to me, bro. It’s super awkward,” Montell said, noting that Russ just kept himself busy on a call while walking on a treadmill. “Then all of a sudden Rev Run walks in! He sits down on the couch and he’s like, ‘Wassup?’ … Russell across the room says, ‘That’s my rap singer!’ I’m not signed to a deal or nothing, bro. Russell was paying no attention to me and he [says that].”
The Run-DMC star later leaves and LL COOL J makes an appearance, and eventually Russell extends an invite to the movies – where he didn’t sit next to Montell. Instead, he sat in front of him and was joined by a man named “Dre.” The pair “giggled like school girls” throughout the duration of the film, leaving an incredulous Montell, who couldn’t believe no one said anything.
The night ended at a strip club where, once again, Russell didn’t acknowledge him. On the way there, however, he’d made Montell sing for Dre in the car, who told Russ, “I’d sign him.” Upon recanting the story to his girlfriend later, she put two-and-two together for her clueless boyfriend: he was with a major Hip Hop executive, the late Andre Harrell.
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“Before Andre would ever sign a Hip Hop artist, he would take him to Russell,” Montell revealed. “And Russell would be like, ‘Yeah, I would do it.’ Or going into the R&B space, Russell wouldn’t sign without Andre giving the nod of approval.”
He added: “So I got signed to Def Jam because Andre Harrell, God rest his soul, told Russell, ‘I’d sign him,’ and when he did that, that’s how I went back to L.A. and got my lawyer. And that’s how I got signed to Def Jam Records. Russell saw it because Paul brought it to him, but Andre gave the stamp.”
