News: DRAM Says His ‘Cha Cha’ Song was Jacked, Drake Explains Similarities

At a recent Toronto performance, DRAM expressed his feelings on his song ‘Cha Cha’ being jacked by Drake for the song ‘Hotline Bling.’ Both beats gesture to Timmy Thomas’ ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ where ‘Hotline Bling’ uses an actual sample, and “Cha Cha” with a recreation using the music from Super Mario. DRAM tweeted about the incident and seems to have no hard feelings, but Drake felt the need to explain in a recent Fader interview. Take a look at what they had to say below and read the full Fader interview here.

Drake had this to say on the song comparison:

‘You know, like in Jamaica, you’ll have a riddim and it’s like, everyone has to do a song on that. 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.’