Hate to Say

Album: Memories Don't Die (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Hate to Say" finds Tory Lanez addressing his numerous beefs over the years with Travis Scott, Drake, Pi'erreBourne, and Eric Bellinger, and the life he's living right now. He described the track as: "4:30 seconds of me laying everything on the table."
  • Lanez recalls during the cut his temporary falling out with Travis Scott.

    Me and Travis Scott almost fought at the Mala Luna
    We both agreed shortly after that it was music
    We possibly could be doin' that's bigger than tryna ruin it
    So my apologies, nigga, just forgive me for doin' it


    He explained to Genius: "I'm not gonna go too far into it, but pretty much we had a disagreement over something. And, at one point, we was at the same festival, and we was about to scrap over some s--t. Some s--t happened, and I think I egged on the fight a little too much, that's about it. So I was just saying my apologies for egging on the fight. 'Cause at the end of the day, it's not like we ended up scrapping. We sat there, and we talked about what you felt, and whatever I felt, and we was like, 'Yo, we should be working with each other.'"
  • Lanez linked up with producers Christian Lou, Bobby Made The Beat, and Play Picasso for the song. He recalled: "Christian Lou sent the beat over to me. I was already missin' this kinda thing on the album, so, I was just like, 'Alright, I'm gonna take this moment to find out how I feel about this situation.'"
  • The producers used a vocal sample from One Direction's 2013 track "You & I" throughout the song. Lanez explained the surprising choice to borrow from:

    "It's weird, right? 'Cause you would never expect these songs to come out of that. But yeah, we had to clear it with One Direction, so that's a Zane sample. Me and Christian Lou been working together for years. So I think when he heard it, he just was like, "Nah, this is for Tory. I have to get this to Tory."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."