BRIAN MAY Reveals Why QUEEN Denied Sampling Request From ‘Gangster Rap’ Artist

Brian May, legendary guitarist of QUEEN, has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind—especially when it comes to protecting the band’s iconic legacy.

In a recent interview with MOJO, May revealed why QUEEN made the decision to block a “gangster rap” artist from sampling their music.

The legendary guitarist explained that QUEEN took an ethical stand against hip-hop tracks with derogatory lyrics, including one particular song that was disrespectful toward women.

He said: “We have stopped them being used to promote violence or abuse, during the heyday of gangster rap when someone wanted to sample it in a song, we thought was abusive to women.”

In the same interview, Brian confessed he initially disliked QUEEN‘s 1978 hit “Don’t Stop Me Now” due to its perceived glorification of Freddie Mercury‘s excessive lifestyle.

“At the time, I didn’t feel comfortable about ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, probably for all the right reasons and the wrong reasons,” May said. “I think I resisted realising why people liked it for a long time.

“Now, I think people love it because it contains all their dark dreams of hedonism – and that’s fine,” he continued. “I hear it all the time, though. People say to me, ‘‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ feels like it was written for me, or my mum or my dad…’ It’s in people’s hearts and minds and becomes personal to them. That’s what makes a song live on.”