Bun B on Being Sampled for Drake’s Ella Langley Remake: ‘The Stars Aligned’

About a month ago, Bun B was up late with the rest of the world, watching the online premiere of Drake’s short film Fear of Missing Out. At least, he caught the beginning of the midnight livestream. “I fell asleep, and then my phone started going off,” recalls the Texas rap legend. “And it’s my nieces calling me: ‘Uncle Bun, the song is on. The song is on!'”

The song in question was Drake’s long-promised remake of Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” featuring Houston’s own Don Toliver. And Bun B’s nieces were excited because that remake — which is now a Top 10 hit in its own right, titled “Solar Eclipse,” after its official release this month on a deluxe edition of the Habibti album — also features a prominent sample of their uncle’s 2005 classic “Get Throwed,” with its signature descending bass riff.

This is actually the second time that Drake has sampled the song, after doing the same on 2021’s “N 2 Deep,” and Bun B says he’s “absolutely thankful and grateful” about what those placements have meant for his own streaming numbers. “Not only is there revenue from having your song attached to a Drake song, but also, people rediscover the original record. So the numbers on the single for ‘Get Throwed’ started to go up again as well,” he says. “That’s a big deal for us, and he’s a great guy for that. You could have worse friends in the music industry than Drake, for sure.”

Bun B has known Drake for close to 20 years, and he was an early supporter back when the future superstar was still best known to many as a Canadian actor who’d signed to Young Money. He appreciates the way that Drake flipped Langley’s record-breaking smash — which is sung from the perspective of someone who’s heartbroken that her man has chosen a Lone Star rival over her — into a smooth tribute to the music and culture of the state where he recently purchased a $15 million ranch. “It’s a full-circle thing, because Texas has inspired him and influenced him on so many different levels,” Bun says. “I would argue that Texas would be considered Drake’s second home at this point. I think the stars really aligned.”

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As for why “Get Throwed” is the sample of choice, Bun B thinks it comes down to original producer Mr. Lee’s memorable beat, and the way that the song represents a moment in time. When it was originally released as a single from his solo debut, Trill, Bun was beginning a new chapter of his career after making some of the greatest records in Southern rap history as one half of UGK with the late, great Pimp C. “Get Throwed” boasted super-quotable verses from both members of that influential duo, plus guest shots from a murderer’s row of Jay-Z, Jeezy, and Z-Ro, all of which put the song in heavy national rotation. “It’s not like UGK and the Geto Boys and 3-2 and Big Mike and all these other classic Houston rappers and groups didn’t already have impact in the culture [earlier on],” he says. “But Houston had that second big run in 2005, 2006, 2007, which brought a lot more notoriety and shine on the city for the younger base. It just immediately brings you back to where Houston was last most impactful.”

As a highly knowledgeable observer of hip-hop trends, Bun B hasn’t been surprised to see the way that Drake’s career has bounced back from the negative headlines of 2024 and 2025. “As many people as there were that tried to count him out, there were just as many people who still believed in him,” he says. “I think the most important aspect that we have to concentrate on is the fact that he never stopped believing in himself. I take my hat off to a guy like that who can persevere through something like that, getting into a very public feud, having a lot of people that he helped turn their backs on him, and he still stood tall and pushed through, and look at him now. I would argue he’s as popular as he’s ever been, and maybe on certain levels more popular than he was.”
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Bun B is calling Rolling Stone from Houston on a short break from his fall tour with 8Ball and MJG, where they’re performing songs from both their catalogs with assistance from the Renaissance Orchestra. “It’s a different musical interpretation of their legacy and our legacy, but it still feels as natural as it did when we released the hip-hop version,” he says.
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With Election Day just a couple of weeks away, he’s feeling good about Senate candidate James Talarico‘s chances. “There’s a shift happening right now,” says Bun B, who recently joined Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves on the list of high-profile Texas musicians who have endorsed Talarico. “People are not really aligned with the vision of the current administration, and people are looking to go in different directions, not just politically, but ideologically. I’m a part of that growing trend, and we’ll see what type of shift we have in the midterms.”

Otherwise, he’s focused on his restaurant chain, Trill Burgers, which recently opened a fourth Houston location in addition to serving customers at Rice University and Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans. On top of that, he promises there’s more to come in 2027: “Keep your ears open, because there will be new music from Bun B next year.”