Kendrick Lamar Is Accused Of Plagiarizing New Jersey Rapper AK’s Video Concept In ‘The Heart Part 5’

While Kendrick Lamar‘s surprise release of “The Heart Part 5” caused excitement for many fans all over the internet this past weekend, one person, in particular, feels slighted by the video: New Jersey rapper AK is accusing the Damn artist of stealing the deepfake concept from his 2020 video “Family Tree.”

Much like “The Heart Part 5,” “Family Tree” features AK morphing his face into Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and coincidentally, Lamar himself. In Lamar’s video, he morphs into Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle. AK stated in a Monday morning Instagram video, “Maybe I’m fooling myself for thinking that Kendrick saw my video and was like, ‘Damn, that’s so good that I want to do it myself.’”

He continued, “I was under Universal; he is under Universal. I did that video in 2020 with Universal. Obviously, the song didn’t do as good as if Kendrick was to do it, but the concept was so sick and I f*cking don’t know, but it’s the same exact thing — it’s a backdrop, it’s him in front of it, it’s one take.”

AK closed the video by speaking on the challenges independent artists face, as many have come out over the years saying bigger acts have stolen their ideas as well. Kendrick Lamar likely won’t respond to the allegations, but his final TDE album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers does release this Friday, May 13.