New Jersey rapper AK has accused Kendrick Lamar of stealing the idea for his new music video, “The Heart Part 5," from AK's 2020 song, “Family Tree.” Both videos feature the artist in front of the camera rapping while their face morphs into different celebrities.
For AK's video, he becomes J. Cole, Nas, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, JAY-Z, and even Kendrick Lamar. The piece was released in September 2020 and has amassed over 600,000 views on YouTube.
“Kendrick Lamar’s new music video is an exact copy of my video from 2020 of my song ‘Family Tree,'” AK claimed in a video posted on social media.
He continued: “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.’ But 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 fucking 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.”
Lamar released his video for "The Heart Part 5," directed by himself and his pgLang co-founder Dave Free, on Sunday night. The track feature's Lamar changing into Kanye West, Nipsey Hussle, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, OJ Simpson, and Jussie Smollett.
The release comes just days ahead of Lamar's long-awaited fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The project, which is rumored to be a double album, is scheduled to release on Friday, May 13.
Check out both AK's video for "Family Tree" and Lamar's video for "The Heart Part 5" below.