If you thought Drake’s Hotline Blingsounded oddly familiar, you weren’t the only one. Plenty of people noticed the similarity to rising rapper D.R.A.M’s Cha Cha. Some media outlets, including Beats 1, even outright called Drake’s track a Cha Cha remix. Billboard towed a similar line, noting that “Hotline Bling musically references D.R.A.M.’s song Cha Cha” If you give Cha Cha a listen here, both comments seem fair.
It’s strange that Drake hasn’t really acknowledged D.R.A.M since then, given his penchant for spotlighting lesser-known artists: he’s always singing Skepta’s praises, and recently remixed Wizkid’s Ojuelegba. D.R.A.M’s probably been paying attention to Drake’s uncharacteristic silence, because he sent out a series of tweets addressing the issue last night. As it turns out, Eryka Badu’s in his corner.
Just performed in Toronto for the 1st time tonight and it was bittersweet.
— D.R.A.M. not DRAM (@ONLY1DRAM) October 20, 2015
Sweet cus I’m out here sharing my music, my sound with the people..
— D.R.A.M. not DRAM (@ONLY1DRAM) October 20, 2015
Bitter though, cus after my performance all I’m seeing is Cha Cha/Hotline Bling comparisons on my timeline.
— D.R.A.M. not DRAM (@ONLY1DRAM) October 20, 2015
Niggas want to know how I feel about that…
— D.R.A.M. not DRAM (@ONLY1DRAM) October 20, 2015
Yeah, I feel I got jacked for my record…But I’m GOOD.
— D.R.A.M. not DRAM (@ONLY1DRAM) October 20, 2015
@ONLY1DRAM we loved Cha Cha first. Very unique and raw. That’s That underground magic force that sparks a seed to grow a tree. . . Ms. badu
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) October 20, 2015