At the 2025 C2 Montréal conference, Shira Lazar hosted Willonius Hatcher, known online as King Willonius, for a live episode of The AI Download. Hatcher discussed the unexpected virality of “BBL Drizzy,” an AI-generated track that became a cultural flashpoint.
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Hatcher described the liberating shift that followed his work with AI:
“I feel the most creative I’ve ever felt in my life.… I don’t have these limitations when I’m making AI-generated content. I can just be like, wow, I can freely just make what I want… But now I can generate pretty much any type of genre I like.”
BBL Drizzy
Derived from a diss‑track feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the track BBL Drizzy—released by Metro Boomin on May 5, 2024—sampled a parody version created by Hatcher with Udio, an AI music tool (linkedin.com). The result quickly amassed over 3.3 million SoundCloud streams in under a week and sparked significant debate about voice‑cloning, song ownership, and AI’s role in music.
Hatcher shared how the Hollywood writers’ strike of 2023 pushed him toward experimentation with AI tools. At the Tulane event earlier this year he explained:
“Right now is a great time to dive into AI because tools are advancing really fast … it’s really important now to learn how to use these tools and know how to find the tools.”
Ethics, Ownership & Access
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Though BBL Drizzy originated as a humorous parody, it became notable for its real‑world sampling and legal implications. AI‑legal experts and Billboard noted that while the AI‑generated master is in the public domain, Hatcher’s authored lyrics retain copyright, entitling him to writer’s credit when Metro’s version was used commercially.
At C2, questions around ethics and ownership surfaced: who owns AI‑created music, who gets credit, and how are marginalized creators empowered—or exploited—in this new creative economy?
In her post‑episode commentary, Lazar reflected that BBL Drizzy is an example of “no gatekeepers”—creators using AI to bypass traditional routes to relevance and recognition. Hatcher offered: “Take action, that’s the biggest thing in life. I can’t stress that enough.”
He also emphasized the need for creatives to experiment daily, pointing to his own rigorous habit of releasing AI‑infused music monthly as evidence that consistency breeds opportunity.
The conversation at C2 emphasized that AI in 2025 is less about replacing talent, more about changing how creative voices are heard.
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