When Clipse dropped their long-awaited comeback track So Be It in June 2025, fans were quick to notice its haunting beat—a swirl of menacing drums and ghostly Arabic strings that gave the song an unmistakable atmosphere. What most listeners didn’t realize, however, was that the song was incomplete. The version released on streaming platforms was missing a key element: a sample of the late Saudi singer Talal Maddah’s Maza Akoulou Wa Qad Himto, which had originally been incorporated into the track by Pharrell Williams. The full version, complete with the sample, was only available in the music video uploaded to YouTube.
According to Clipse’s manager, Steven Victor, Pharrell discovered the iconic Saudi song in the most 2025 way possible: scrolling through Instagram. Specifically, on Swizz Beatz’s feed. Swizz had posted a clip of the song during one of his many visits to Saudi Arabia, and the producer and Louis Vuitton Men’s creative director, instantly drawn to its emotional pull, asked what it was. Swizz told him, “Don’t worry about what it is—just know I got you.” Pharrell flipped it into what would become the spine of So Be It. But when it came time to release the track, there was one problem: the sample hadn’t been cleared. So, Clipse had to upload a placeholder version to keep the release on schedule. It was dubbed So Be It Pt. II, and it just didn’t hit the same.
“Swizz asked, ‘Why didn’t you call me about [So Be It]?’ … He said, ‘I’ll connect with the right people in person and get it resolved.’ And that’s exactly what he did,” said Victor.
As fate would have it, Swizz Beatz was already scheduled to travel to Riyadh that same day. And unlike most producers, Swizz wasn’t walking in cold—he has real ties to the Kingdom. Between launching his creative agency Good Intentions in Riyadh, opening a roller skating rink in AlUla, and owning a camel racing team called Saudi Bronx, he’s been embedding himself in Saudi Arabia’s cultural scene for years, so when he said he’d “take care of it,” he meant it.
A few in-person meetings later, the sample was cleared. Within days, the full version of So Be It—Talal Maddah sample and all—replaced the placeholder on streaming platforms.
Everyone say thank you Swizz Beatz!
The post How Swizz Beatz Flew to Riyadh and Saved Clipse’s Comeback Track ‘So Be It’ appeared first on MILLE WORLD.
