Mariah Carey Had Jokes For A Baltimore Rapper Who Sampled One Of Her Songs In A Viral Video

Back in 2005, Mariah Carey released her classic album The Emancipation Of Mimi. While the effort was responsible for producing one of her best singles, “We Belong Together,” it was also home to another favorite, “Shake It Off.” More than sixteen years later, that song once again became a topic of conversation after YTK, a rapper from Baltimore, sampled it in his song “Let It Off,” which went viral on Twitter.

The song comes with a video, in which its soft vocals and R&B production are met with imagery including ski masks and guns, similar to what RMR did in early 2019 which helped his breakout song, “Rascal,” go viral. After Twitter user @rnbtommy reposted the video on his account with the caption, “Mariah Carey has 24 hours to respond,” it took off, tallying more than 24,000 retweets and 62,000 favorites. Mariah eventually discovered the tweet and had a lighthearted response about it. “How about y’all have 24 hours to respond to my lawyers (purple heart),” she replied.

After seeing Mariah’s tweet, the response was divided. Some were disappointed that YTK’s song might be removed while others offered responses along the lines of “well, what did you expect?” However, @rnbtommy later clarified Mariah’s tweet. “hey I want to reiterate that Mariah was joking, please stop saying rude sh*t to her,” they wrote in a tweet. “She told that same joke to Quest Love hours before she responded to the tweet and put us in contact with the people who can help us clear it! so it’s not a problem on her end.” They shared a screenshot of a direct message conversation Questlove that reveals he spent almost four hours speaking to Mariah about YTK’s track.

You can listen to the song in the video above.