Turkish folk singer says she inspired Dr. Dre in hit new album

A Turkish folk singer believes she has inspired Dr. Dre’s new album with one of her songs, Hurriyet Daily News reported on Saturday.

Selda Bağcan’s song “İnce İnce” was recently used as a sample in hip hop producer Dr. Dre’s new album Compton that was released on August 7.

The song “İnce İnce” comes from Bağcan’s 1976 album “Türküola” and is based on a folk song by Aşık Mahzuni Serif who was a folk musician, composer and poet.

The 66-year-old singer who lives in Istanbul’s Bosphorus neighborhood Tarabya with more than 20 cats, told Hurriyet Daily that Dr. Dre’s team contacted her for copyright purposes, “[They] have not paid copyright yet but it is likely they will pay, we are waiting,” she says.

When asked whether she knew the music producer, she said “he is not a singer that I know very well,” adding “I sing folk songs, how would I know about him? I know Madonna and Michael Jackson.”

However, the iconic hip hop producer is not the first rapper to use a sample from Bağcan.

According to Bağcan, the best use of her song “İnce İnce” was made by Mos Def, an American hip hop singer who won a Grammy award with his 2010 album “The Ecstatic,” which included “Supermagic” that featured Bağcan’s song.

Dr. Dre also uses the same riff from Bağcan’s song as Mos Def did in his new song “Issues” in his album Compton. Today, Bağcan believes her fame outside of Turkey is bigger than in her home country.