Drake Responds To ‘Cha Cha’ And ‘Hotline Bling’ Comparisons: Did Rapper Steal DRAM’s Song?

“Back To Back” rapper Drake came under fire after his video for “Hotline Bling” dropped Monday -- and not because of his awkward dance moves. The Canadian rapper is accused of stealing his beat from D.R.A.M.’s song, “Cha Cha,” but Drake said he was simply inspired by it. Drake said he doesn't think he ripped off anyone.

“Hotline Bling” originally dropped during the summer, Vulture noted, and Drake touted it as a remix of “Cha Cha.” He explained the connection between the songs in an interview with Fader Tuesday:

You know, like in Jamaica, you’ll have a riddim [the same sample] and it’s like, everyone has to do a song on that,” Drake said. “Imagine that in rap, or imagine that in R&B. Imagine if we got one beat and every single person -- me, this guy, this guy, all these guys -- had to do a song on that one beat. So sometimes I’ll pick a beat that’s a bit, like, sunnier, I guess is the word you used, than usual, and I just try my hand at it. And that’s kind of what ‘Hotline Bling’ was. And I loved it. It’s cool. I’ve been excited by that sort of creative process.”

But D.R.A.M. saw much more than a connection. He said Drake blatantly stole from him. “I feel like I got jacked for my record. … But I’m good,” he wrote Monday. The post was shared more than 3,000 times and received nearly 2,000 favorites from his 13,300 followers.

Grammy-award winning artist Erykah Badu agreed. She took to Twitter and gave D.R.A.M a shout out. “We loved 'Cha Cha' first. Very unique and raw,” she said Tuesday. “That's that underground magic force that sparks a seed to grow a tree.” Like D.R.A.M.’s, her post received hundreds of shares and favorites.

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