Cardi B Credits Reggae Legend Bunny Wailer For “Electric” Sample On New Song ‘Hot Sh*t’

“It’s electric!”, the hook from Reggae icon Marcia Griffiths’ version of the Bunny Wailer-written Electric Boogie is trending on Twitter after being sampled by rapper Cardi B in her new single Hot Sh*t featuring Kanye West and Lil Durk, which was released today (July 1).

Cardi B, who wrote “I’m ELECTRIC” on Instagram yesterday evening, told Apple Music that the song was written back in 2019. Bunny Wailer, whose real name is Neville O’Riley Livingston, is credited among the songwriters for Hot Sh*t and the sample appears around the 51-second mark of the song.

Wailer’s former manager Maxine Stowe, in an invited comment, told DancehallMag that the sample was properly cleared.  “The publisher, Tafari Music, cleared the sample and it was for minimal use of the words ‘it’s electric”’, Stowe said.

The Electric Boogie was first recorded in 1983, by Marcia Griffiths with Bunny Wailer, who was her childhood friend serving as producer, arranger and background vocalist.

Stowe explained why only Bunny Wailer—who passed away at the age of 73 on March 2, 2021—was credited for use of the sample in Hot Sh*t.

“The only time Marcia Griffiths earns is when they actually sample the record , like if they use her version of the record which was the hit, but in this case, there was no use of the record, just the writing,” she explained.

“Electric Boogie is Bunny Wailer’s most recognised song as a writer and it reflects his fluency with the dancehall that he grew up in,” she added.

In 1989, the track was propelled by music mogul Chris Blackwell of Island Records, and later, Bunny, who authored the original song, recorded a second version as a soloist.

A year ago, Marcia Griffiths while outlining the history of the song, said that it all began with a rhythm box that she bought in Canada, whilst on tour with the I-Threes in the 1980s, when each of the backup singers received 700 Canadian dollars as their performance pay.

Griffiths had sought to set the record straight regarding the genesis of her mega-hit song, which she said has been incorrectly described as being a cover version done by her, by many local and international media, including Essence Magazine, over the years.

She had explained that she bought the box for approximately $400 and showed it to Bunny when she returned to Jamaica, after which the Wailer “laid one of the beats from the rhythm box with the piano repeater sound, took it to Portland; came back the following day with the song, and he called in Sly and Robbie to do a overdub on what he had recorded form the rhythm box”.

“I am the original singer; he (Bunny wailer) is the writer for the song and the producer – from my little rhythm box. So I didn’t jump on anything that was done before.  We did it first,” she had explained.

She had also explained that she was on tour on the US West Coast when she got a call from a colleague who said that the song was taking off and that a “dance had been put to it” and that by the time the tour got to Washington, she was forced to learn the dance and perform it in her set.

“So I tried to find Bunny to say: ‘Bunny, let’s do a video right away and get the song out because the both of us did the song originally; he did the rap… While I was searching for Bunny to do the video and couldn’t find him, when I finally came to Jamaica and I saw his car and I went to tell Bunny to say: ‘listen, let’s do this video, he was already doing a video and already recording another version for himself,” she explained.

Electric Boogie became the 72-year-old’s biggest hit after Blackwell suggested that she should do a remix “with the Miami Sound Machine”, which later rose up the Billboard charts and also became her most requested song.

Marcia had also credited the Electric Slide dance which was created by a group from Washington, for making the song ultra-famous.  She had also marveled at the fact that the song and the dance has outlived so many other dance songs that came before and after it, among them the Madison, the Bus Stop the Cha-cha and the Macarena, and remained a favorite at weddings.

“There is nowhere in the world that I could go and perform and not do the electric slide.  It’s international; it’s worldwide and the song brings people together.  You do not need a partner to do this dance,” the Feel Like Jumping artiste had said.

But, for Marcia, she had not benefited from the song in terms of royalties, for a long period “not even a dime”.  She said that, after going to Chris Blackwell and pointing out that it was not fair for her not to be earning anything, “they made some arrangement for me to get some artiste royalty”.