“A culture vulture”- Netizens react to Drakeo’s father claiming Kendrick Lamar stole the late rapper’s style for GNX

In an interview on the No Jumper podcast on August 19, Drakeo The Ruler's father claimed that Kendrick Lamar stole his late son's flow and style. He said that some of the Compton rapper's songs from his 2024 album GNX were similar to Drakeo's.

"I mean, 'cause what I actually was listening, 'cause, I mean, I'm not a big Kendrick Lamar person. Yeah, I'm really picky with music, you know, just being I'm a musician and all that. But I heard this one song his, I'm like, 'Wait, I didn't know if I was listening to a Drakeo song that I just didn't hear yet,'" he said.

"I'm like, 'Oh, this is one of my son's songs that I haven't heard yet.' And that's not Draco. That's Kendrick Lamar. I'm like, 'Wait, that's Kendrick Lamar?' He sounds just like [Drakeo]. And then that's when I knew right there, this guy, he sounds the rhyme pattern, the syncopation, all of that was the same. The flow, everything was the same," he added.

Fans online have reacted to this clip shared by DJ Akademiks, as one X user wrote:

"Kendrick Lamar is a culture vulture with no shame, disgusting"

LeBronto

@OVOLeBronto

@AkademiksTV Kendrick Lamar is a culture vulture with no shame, disgusting

Another wrote,

$$AMERiCANHUSTLER$$

@305sBabyBoi

@AkademiksTV Kendrick a damn fake that style came outta nowhere rolling his eyes in the video is all drakeo the ruler to the lyrics I was wondering where dem lyrics came from cuz they too were trash he got from another trash artist is crazy I thought yall said Kendrick pen game is unmatched

Another commented,

(st_ides)

@benjamins_st

@AkademiksTV If you're going to steal a rapper's flow, you might as well show love to the artist.

Some fans, meanwhile, claimed that Kendrick's album sounds nothing like Drakeo, as one wrote:

Mykell Mathieu

@MykellthePG

@AkademiksTV GNX sounds nothing like Drakeo

Another tweeted,

Woadie 1K

@TrvpCouchSLIM

@AkademiksTV Lmao go listen to Drakeo and then listen to GNX shit don’t sound similar lol Drakeo music 100x better the fucc is we talkin bout here

Another wrote,

Fletch

@SGT_Cochise

@AkademiksTV I fw Drakeo… And you can hear some similarities.. But cmon.. They both from Cali and Dot been doing ths sht a decade before Drakeo was on the scene. (Of course not in LA). In a world where Drakeo is still with us, he’d be in GNX probably 🤷🏾‍♂️

For the unversed, Drakeo The Ruler, whose real name was Darrell Wayne Caldwell, was a rapper from California, US. He died in a tragic stabbing incident on December 19, 2021.

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Drakeo The Ruler's father on whether Kendrick Lamar should have given his son the credit for GNX

67th GRAMMY Awards - Press Room (Image Source: Getty)

When asked if Kendrick should have given his son credit for his songs or the album, Drakeo's father said:

"Now, far as him giving him the props, maybe it was a political thing. Maybe it was politics, you know what I'm saying? I can't be going on that bandwagon right now. What I'm trying to do, I'm trying to make this positive movement, you know, right now with, you know, these rappers and this rap stuff."

"And if I, you know, shot out Drakeo, you know, and just let people know I'm using this flow, that might be bad for what I'm trying to do. So I can understand it on that level, but at some point , you got to keep it real," he added.

Drakeo's brother, Ralfy the Plug, had also previously accused Kendrick of having no respect for his late brother. As per Hot New Hip Hop, in an interview after Lamar's Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert in June 2024, Ralfy said:

"There was probably a lot of people on that stage that probably don't like Drakeo."

However, he seemed to change his tune soon after, writing in an X post on November 22, 2024, about GNX:

"I ain't gone lie this new tape is kdot not Kendrick or Kenny he came kdot on that tape. and he got some [trophy emoji]s on there"

RalfyThe Plug

@RalfytheP

I ain't gone lie this new tape is kdot not Kendrick or Kenny he came kdot on that tape 🔥and he got some 🏆s on there 🫡

GNX, meanwhile, has become one of Kendrick's most popular albums and also won the Album of the Year award at the 2025 BET Awards.

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