In a recent interview with FADER magazine, Drizzy admits that he purposely borrowed from D.R.A.M.’s song, even going so far as to originally name his song “Hotline Bling (Cha Cha Remix),” but likens it to the Jamaican musical tradition of using common riddims:
“You know, like in Jamaica, you’ll have a riddim 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.”
Unfortunately for Drake, he’s had to deal with a number of accusations of song stealing and beat jacking this year.
Aside from Meek Mill’s infamous ghostwriting allegations, the OVO leader was also accused by an artist named Jace of the Atlanta collective Two-9, of stealing the beats for “6 God” and “No Tellin'” off his platinum album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. He’s also recently been accused by burgeoning singer Abra of copying her song “U Kno” for his own “Diamonds Dancing,” and last year reportedly paid Bay Area rapper Rappin’ 4-Tay $100,000 for using his lyrics without permission on YG’s 2013 hit “Who Do You Love.”
