Pet Shop Boys Respond to Drake Sample: ‘No Credit Given’

The Pet Shop Boys, composed of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, celebrated the 40th anniversary of their hit song, "West End Girls," this month. The duo also responded to the unauthorized use of the song by rapper Drake.

The record, which was released as a single twice, shot to the top of the U.K. charts in 1985. Soon, it reached the top spot in eight countries in1986. The track is certified platinum. "West End Girls" won Best Single at the Brit Awards in 1987 along with Best International Hit at the Ivor Novello Awards. The song was dubbed the Song of the Decade by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters in 2005, and is widely regarded as one of the best number one songs to come out of the U.K.

The Canadian rapper is an apparent fan of "West End Girls," having sampled it on his song "All the Parties ft. Chief Keef" off of his 2023 album For All the Dogs. Drake uses a similar melody to the Pet Shop Boys' song, and borrows from the chorus, singing "And it's 6, our town a dead end world/ East End boys and West End girls."

The Pet Shop Boys had a quick reaction to this use of their iconic song.

 "Surprising to hear Drake singing the chorus of 'West End Girls' in the track 'All the Parties' on his new album. No credit given or permission requested," wrote the Pet Shop Boys on X in 2023 after the song's release.

Samples are typically "cleared" with the original artist, but Drake did no such thing with "West End Girls." Drake isn't the first notable rapper to fail to clear a sample. Vanilla Ice was famously sued by David Bowie and Queen for his use of "Under Pressure" on "Ice Ice Baby." The track features the same bassline in its opening and chorus. Mac Miller was similarly sued in 2012 for sampling Lord Finesse's "Hip 2 Da Game" on his song, "Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza."

However, the Pet Shop Boys have changed their tune since the initial release of "All the Parties."

"It's all sorted now, but I must say I thought it was a really nice bit in the record. He sang it very well," said Tennant in a recent interview with NME. He still believes that people don't "regard [West End Girls] as a rap record, even though we did it."

"If you read a book about rap, no one will ever mention 'West End Girls' in it," he continued.

However, Tennant earned his hip-hop laurels recently on CASISDEAD's song, "Skydive" from his album, Famous Last Words. Lowe highlighted this appearance, chirping, "Hang on, you won the bloody BRIT Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap/Grime Artist this year!"

Pet Shop Boys' next album, Nonetheless, will arrive on April 26. The group are soon heading out on a summer tour which will take them across Europe, with the majority of shows taking place in the United Kingdom.