When it comes to hip-hop, there’s a fine line between borrowing a line or two of a fellow rappers that you like and outright biting their lyrics.
Jay Z frequently borrows Biggie lines as a way to pay homage to his fallen friend. Drake, on the other hand, has been accused of the latter.
Veteran West Coast emcee Rappin’ 4-Tay says Drizzy stole his lyrics with the intention of passing them off as his own.
The song in question is YG’s recently released song “Who Do You Love” which features the popular Toronto emcee spitting some lyrics that are pretty undeniably similar to 4-Tay’s 1994 song “Playaz Club”:
Drake on “Who Do You Love”
She got a buddy name OJB and now you know the deal
We turnt up in the studio late night
That’s why the songs that you hear are comin’ real tight
OVO crew, n***a, thought I told you
If you a player in the game, this should hold you
And man shout my n***a Game he just rolled through
Eatin’ crab out in Malibu with no boo
A lot of fools puttin’ salt in the game
Until these women get the notion that they runnin’ the game
Rapping 4-Tay on “Playaz Club”
I got a h*e named Real de Real
She got a buddy named SP 12, now, you know the deal
We getz freaky in the studio late night
That’s why the beats that you hear are comin’ real tight
Somethin’ to roll to, somethin’ to stroll to
If you’s a playa in the game this will hold you
Mo money mo money for the bank roll
Stick to the script don’t slip in the 9-4
A lot of fools put salt in the game
Till when these women get the notion that they runnin’ the game, huh?
Personally, this writer gives Drake credit and believes he was in fact paying homage to 4-Tay and he isn’t dumb enough to try to outright steal lyrics and think he wasn’t going to get caught even if 4-Tay and his song aren’t known by the masses. Rappin’ 4-Tay feels differently as seen in the following tweet:
Thus far, Drake has yet to address the allegations. We will be sure to keep you posted of any updates to this story.
