If you haven’t gotten “BBL Drizzy” out of your head, you can thank Metro Boomin — but you also need to thank King Willonius. Metro’s beat is a sped-up version of a ’70s-style R&B song that Willonius posted nearly a month earlier, inspired by Rick Ross accusing Drake of getting a Brazilian butt lift.Now, that song has become one of the bright spots in Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef after Metro challenged fans to freestyle over the track. (Drake should’ve been careful when he told Metro to “shut your ho ass up and make some drums.”) Even your mom might be singing along.
Willonius has been “trying to work just as hard as Kendrick” during the beef, writing and producing over a dozen songs inspired by the rappers trading bars. A comedian and songwriter, he makes the songs using artificial-intelligence software, feeding his lyrics and toggling with different prompts until he gets a product he likes. “When I first got introduced to tools like ChatGPT, it unlocked all my creativity,” he says. “Honestly, it felt like I had an advantage over a lot of my peers, just in the ability to create at warp speed.” Now, it’s helped him make his mark on hip-hop history. “Hope I get a BBL out of it. Nah, I’m joking.”
So Rick Ross first coined “BBL Drizzy.” What made you think, That’s a song?
I mean, it was hilarious. Just the words “BBL Drizzy” is funny in itself. But I always had a history of anytime something was trending on Twitter/X, I would make a song and throw it on my SoundCloud. This time I put it on X, and it took off like wildfire. The timing of “BBL Drizzy” and the Drake-Kendrick beef being so polarizing, it was the perfect storm.
BBL Drizzy pic.twitter.com/0gPBUlk6VF
— Avocado Papi ???? (@KingWillonius) April 14, 2024
What is your process from writing to making the song with AI?
Anytime I come up with lyrics, it is just thinking of a concept and thinking about what type of impact I want to have or story I want to tell. For “BBL Drizzy,” it was essentially a singer celebrating his BBL. Like, “Hey man, I got a BBL — I got the best BBL.” Instead of shaming somebody about having a BBL, let’s celebrate Drake for his BBL.
Then actually producing the song with AI, is that a lot of trial and error? How do you get to the final product?
Yeah, a lot of trial and error, just going back and forth with the different prompts. I have a really great ear, so it’s just listening to the music once it’s done and being like, I don’t like this, then just keep reiterating the track until it’s something that I feel that people would enjoy. Then just keep tweaking it until you find what actually works. That particular track, I’ve done it in multiple different styles, country, Afrobeats, yacht rock, and it works in each one.
So how did you find out that Metro Boomin flipped this into a beat?
I was leaving the Improv late at night; I think it was three o’clock in the morning. I just saw it on X, and I was like, Man, this is insane. Then people started calling me and texting me.
Do you think he did a good job with it?
Yeah, he did an excellent job. I mean, it is going viral right now, man. I made the song back in early April, and it had this moment where it did its thing, then it kind of died down. Things don’t stay viral for very long. Then he came back and flipped it and now it’s massive. You got nuns dancing to it. It is taking on a whole life of its own.
What have been some of your favorite versions that you’ve seen?
I like the dude playing the guitar. That was really dope. I liked the Indian dancer. The Duolingo TikTok was interesting. I’ve been working, so I haven’t seen a lot of the videos.
Metro eventually thanked you on X for the sample. Have you heard more from him since?
Not much. He gave me a shout-out, so that was cool. It’s been a lot of people riding for me. Any time somebody posts the song, there’ll be people in the comments like, “Hey, that’s King Willonius who made that and wrote it.” That’s probably the biggest misconception with AI. People think that you can just throw a prompt in there and it’ll make a track like that, but like, AI doesn’t know about “thicker than a Snicker.” You’re not going to get lines like that from AI.
What did you think about Drake using AI of Tupac on “Taylor Made Freestyle”?
Drake just opened up the floodgates. I think Drake gave permission for everybody to use AI. Prior to that, people that were making AI songs last year, it was kind of taboo. For the biggest rapper in the world to use AI to imitate one of the greatest rappers ever, a deceased rapper, I think anything goes now because of that.
Do you think Drake actually got a BBL?
He’s rich enough that he could get it. I saw a TikTok with a doctor and he was saying that Drake got one, but who knows? I don’t know him. If he did, shout out to him, then he really is BBL Dizzy.
Between Drake versus Kendrick, who is winning right now?
I would have to say Kendrick is winning. Drake’s last diss record, “The Heart Part 6,” just felt like a lackluster effort. He was like, “Yeah, okay, I’m kind of tired of this.” But if you look at the music that really moved the people, it was Kendrick’s music. Who knows how much was factual or not, but if you just look at the impact of the records, I think Kendrick did a lot more to change how we look at Drake. But at the end of the day, “BBL Drizzy” is the best song of the whole beef.
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Justin Curto , 2024-05-09 16:03:02
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