Drake Explains The “Hotline Bling” And “Cha Cha” Connection

To borrow an idea from Leon Neyfakh’s recent FADER 100 Drake cover story, the “Hotline Bling” video is like a master class on Drake’s superpowers, his uncanny ability to interpret inspirational source material into something transcendent and fun.

Visually, Drake brought his old #artselfies to the next level by filming in what looks like a James Turrell piece. Working with the legendary Director X, he also evoked the set and scenes of classic videos from Sean Paul and Kardinal Offishall . Maybe he was referring to Nicki Minaj too. I’m sure you can source some of his goofy dance moves to Vine.

And the song itself, of course, also echoes another: D.R.A.M.’s “Cha Cha.” Both vocalists follow similar lines. The sample in "Hotline Bling" of Timmy Thomas’ "Why Can't We Live Together" hovers around the same chord progression that “Cha Cha” achieved by sampling Super Mario. Regarding their songs’ overlap, D.R.A.M. recently tweeted, “I feel like I got jacked for my record.”

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Drake spoke about the connection between the songs in the course of his interview with The FADER—though his comments haven’t been published until now. Responding to a question about a sunnier vibe to some of his summer output—see also “Sweeterman,” another riff on an existing song—he seems to acknowledge that “Hotline Bling” was based on “Cha Cha” and describes the song as a modern-rap equivalent to a dancehall artist recording their own spin on a hot riddim.

“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.”