DJ Kid Capri is continuing to dispute claims about his voice being used on the “Martin” show theme song.
Often, theme songs from shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “The Brady Bunch,” “Good Times,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Jeffersons,” and “A Different World” become as iconic as the stars themselves. This holds true for the theme song of the hit Fox show “Martin,” which ran from 1992-1997.
The “Martin” theme song incorporated voices from a few characters created by Martin Lawrence for the show, including his catchphrases like “You so crazy” said by Sheneneh Jenkins and “How y’all doing?” from his character, Martin Payne. It also sampled Capri’s introduction from the HBO series “Russell Simmons Presents: Def Comedy Jam.”
Now, the New Jersey party rocker is accusing Lawrence and the showrunners of disrespect, alleging they stole his work and later misled the public about it.
During an episode of “The Fun House” podcast with rap veterans Kid N Play, Kid Capri talked about his career, hip-hop culture, and his beef with the Washington, D.C., comedian.
On the April 30 episode, Play recalled a conversation with Capri about the “Martin” theme song and was told that he was “disappointed” about not getting credit or at minimum acknowledgment for his voice on the song.
The Martin Lawrence kid Capri beef pic.twitter.com/y6G4XHjSVN
— T.Vickz (@TVickz) May 4, 2024
“Any that knows me would know it’s me,” Capri said at the 36:30 mark of the podcast. “And it would be foolish to say it’s anybody else. I think Martin overstepped his boundaries, number one, by taking something that belonged to me without getting my permission.”
Capri, who was the house DJ for Def Comedy Jam and one of the premier DJs in the industry, said his quarrel is not about money but more about respect and business.
“They went and took my property. You got everybody wandering around the country saying ‘Martinnnnnn,’” he continued and claimed was a cool feat to have accomplished. “But to go and take it and then get on your show later on and have Tisha Campbell say on Fox Soul that that wasn’t Capri, that’s Cole, um, and then you get on your show in your reunion to say it wasn’t me, it’s a blatant slap in the face and a disrespect to me.”
During the 2022 cast reunion of “Martin,” Lawrence revealed, “Cole actually is the voice, he does the voice.” Campbell said at the time, “Are you serious? I thought it was Kid Capri.”
Cole, played by Carl Anthony Payne II, simply smiled and nodded his head but did not verbally confirm Lawrence’s revelation or share more details. Capri also claimed he later “called Tisha” and told her, “Yo, you are sadly mistaken. She said ‘Kid I apologize. I’m so sorry.'”
What added injury to the insult was that Lawrence hoped to get away with using the sample of Capri’s voice by saying that it was other people imitating his voice.
One person who said that he imitated his voice was “The Fun House” host, Kid, who looked awkward as Capri expressed his gripes as he sat between him and Play with his arms crossed.
In 2016, Kid, who produced the theme song, perpetuated the conception during an interview on “Sway’s Universe” with Heather B and Sway Calloway.
“That’s actually me impersonating Kid Capri saying ‘Martin’” the “Ain’t Gone Hurt Nobody,” rapper said.
Heather B said that she always thought it was Capri, but Kid doubled down and said, “Actually, it was [me], because, I mean that I love Capri, but I was just like, ‘Look we’re not gonna pay that guy.’”
With the story that it was Cole or his friend Kid floating around, Capri says that the lie is a violation of the friendship that he thought they had. ‘You’re not a man,’ Capri said.
“It would have took nothing for you to call me and say, “Yo, Kid, you know, I know we used it.’ You know, what I’m saying? Or this is where we at, but what can we do to resolve it? I probably would have said, ‘Man, you know what, man, go ahead. Do your thing, B. Go ahead.’ Just the respect level… but he didn’t even give me that. He went on the show in front of millions of people and said that was Cole … straight disrespectful to me and I have a problem with it.”
Capri said they used his voice until seasons 3 and 4 when the theme song was changed.
Fans also had a problem with it after the clip started to circulate on social media. Marcus J. Carothers posted it on his Instagram and many weighed in just as furious as the DJ.
“Whether it was years ago or not, he deserves to be compensated,” one person wrote.
“Man this s—t should have been addressed and resolved back in ’94. We don’t have the time or luxury to even care about this, it’s too much going on,” another comment read.
A third comment said, “Keeping it A BUCK @kidcapri101 voice is what made that THEME SONG!”
Interestingly enough, Play, whose real name is Chris Martin, is actually Lawrence’s blood cousin, a fact that was not lost on a few in the comment section, “Why Play not defending his cousin? Lol.”
At the center of this is who owns the sample — and many suggest that it was not Capri anyway. The Capri intro is still owned by HBO, therefore, one can license it for use. Russell Simmons and his partners only produced the show for the cable network.
