Legendary DJ and rapper Kid Capri has alleged that the iconic ’90s sitcom Martin used a sample of his voice in its theme song without his consent or compensation. In a recent interview on the Bag Fuel podcast, Capri explained that the show’s producers extracted his enthusiastic “Martin!” shout from his appearances on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and incorporated it into the show’s opening sequence.
“They took my voice from Def Comedy Jam, sampled it, put it on the Martin show,” Capri stated. “Never got no permission from me, never asked for my rights, nothing.”
Despite the show’s long-running success across multiple networks over three decades, Capri chose not to pursue legal action at the time. He noted, “Now if it was a money thing for me, I would [have] been like, ‘Yo, where’s my bread?’ I ain’t never did that.”
The situation resurfaced when actress Tisha Campbell, who portrayed Gina Waters-Payne on Martin, questioned whether the voice in the theme song was indeed Capri’s during an appearance on Fox Soul. Martin Lawrence, the show’s star, denied Capri’s involvement. Responding to this, Capri expressed frustration, saying, “First of all, that was the dumbest s**t to say, everybody know it’s me.”
Capri emphasized that a simple acknowledgment would have sufficed: “All you had to say was, ‘Yo Kid, we used your s**t, is it all right?'”\
This revelation has sparked discussions about artists’ rights and the importance of proper credit and compensation in the entertainment industry.