Betty (Get Money)

Album: Marvelous (2022)
Charted: 73 30
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Songfacts®:

  • Born Matthew Hauri in Rochester, Minnesota, to an insomnia psychologist father, Yung Gravy began rapping for fun at college. In 2016, he quit his job to pursue rapping full time and developed his style that blends trap beats with samples of retro songs from the '50s through the '80s. Such tracks as "Mr. Clean," which samples The Chordettes' 1954 classic "Mr. Sandman," and "1 Thot 2 Thot Red Thot Blue Thot," which borrows from Dennis Edwards' 1984 R&B hit "Don't Look Any Further," gained Yung Gravy recognition and a deal with the major-label Republic Records. "Betty (Get Money)" became the rapper's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 when it debuted at #68 during the chart week ending of July 23, 2022.
  • "Betty (Get Money)" interpolates Rick Astley's 1988 international smash hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." Yung Gravy revamps the chorus as:

    Never gonna take no loss
    Never gonna lose my sauce
    All I know is chase this dough and get money


    Gravy flexes about his wealthy lifestyle and how he's intent on making cash in order to maintain it.
  • Though "Betty" appears in the title, there's no girl of that name in the lyrics. Yung Gravy inserted the name as a tribute to the actress Betty White, who passed away in December 2021.
  • Electronic musician Dillon Francis produced the track with producer/engineer Nick Seeley and Boston-based DJ Dwilly. Francis' other credits include Katy Perry's "Roar" and Panic At The Disco's "Hey Look Ma, I Made It," as well as his own hit with DJ Snake, "Get Low."
  • The song entered charts worldwide after going viral on TikTok. Users uploaded videos incorporating the bridge:

    Damn Gravy you so vicious, you so clean, so delicious
    How come you ain't got no missus?
  • That's not Rick Astley singing in the background, but a soundalike named Popnick. According to legal documents, Yung Gravy secured the rights to the song, but not the performance, meaning he could interpolate it but not sample it.

    Ashley suit filed in January 2023, claiming Popnick's imitation isn't covered as part of their deal. "The public could not tell the difference," the suit claims. "The imitation of Mr. Astley's voice was so successful the public believed it was actually Mr. Astley singing."

    The case is an interesting one from a legal perspective. Advertisers have been found liable for using soundalike singers in commercials (Tom Waits went to war with Doritos), but it's not clear if interpolations in songs are protected.

    Court papers filed by an attorney for Yung Gravy with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Mandel on September 26, 2023, revealed that the case was resolved for an undisclosed sum.

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