Nigerian Singer Tems, her manager, and the producer of rapper Future’s single “Wait for U” featuring Tems and Drake have exchanged tense posts on X (formerly Twitter) over the producer’s claims that the singer initially refused to clear the track’s prominent sample of her song “Higher.”
In an interview clip from The Baller Alert Show that Tems’ longtime manager Muyiwa Awoniyi shared on X, producer ATL Jacob claimed that originally, Tems refused to clear the song’s use of “Higher” until Future urged Drake to encourage Tems to do so.
Jacob also claimed that when they met for the first at the Grammys last year, where “Wait for U” earned a Best Melodic Rap Performance award, he felt Tems was “irritated” with the song.
He says he approached Tems about working together, but it didn’t happen. Jacob did not detail her response to his proposal.
In a repost, Tems did eventually comment on Jacob’s X post. “I LOVE THIS STORY….Look at the phrasing…Magnificent.”
At the Grammys last year, where taking home an award for the song earned her first from the Recording Academy, Tems told Rolling Stone that she was pleased with “Wait for U” when she was approached about the sample.
After the song debuted at Number One in May 2022 – a first for both Tems and Future – the rapper tweeted her praises.
He wrote that out of admiration and hoping to boost Tems’ name, she’s credited as a featured artist on song, rather than as a writer alone, which is more common with samples.
