Fader just published a timely Drake quote on the connection between "Hotline Bling" and D.R.A.M.'s "Cha Cha," which didn't originally appear in his recent cover story. Last night after the "Hotline Bling" video dropped, D.R.A.M. tweeted that he felt like Drake jacked his record, but said he was all good and moving forward.
Drake has yet to address D.R.A.M.'s comments directly, but in a new excerpt from his cover interview, Drake seems to admit that "Hotline Bling" was inspired by "Cha Cha."
"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.”
The discussions about the similarities between the two songs won't stop anytime soon, especially with "Hotline Bling" currently siting at the No. 2 spot on the Hot 100, and possibly reaching No. 1 next week. "Hotline Bling" samples Timmy Thomas' "Why Can't We Live Together," and "Cha Cha" originally sampled music from Super Mario Bros. and there are some obvious sonic similarities between both songs. Drake's full cover story can be viewed here.
