Nine years ago to the date, Philadelphia artist Lil Uzi Vert blessed SoundCloud with a life-changing four-pack of songs. This four-pack, titled LUV Is Rage 1.5, would introduce the world to the biggest song of his career. “XO Tour Llif3” would take over charts, everywhere from SoundCloud to Billboard, ultimately being currently certified fourteen times platinum.
While an incredible feat, that’s not what we’re here to discuss. Amongst “XO Tour Llif3” were three other songs, “Boring Shit,” “YSL,” and the subject for today, “LUV SCARS K.o 1600.” On the surface, the song is a great listen, booming bass with an infectious chorus, all brought together by Uzi & DJ Plugg. This unassuming song, however, caused some stir in the current music scene.
Lil Uzi Vert – LUV SCARS K.o 1600 (Produced By Dj Plugg)
The issue lies alone in the title of the song. 1600 would refer to 1600 Block in Philadelphia, and LUV would be his artist name abbreviated. However, at the same time, there was another artist out with his biggest single sharing a similar title. Ohio artist Trippie Redd’s “Love Scars” was easily his biggest single to date, sharing a similar lane to Uzi in the sense of the so-called Emo rap sound. Trippie also would take up 1400 in his rhymes, referring to 14th Street in Canton, Ohio.
Trippie Redd – “Love Scars” Official Music Video
Considering these similarities, Trippie Redd would take public issue with this. In this old clip, Trippie angrily highlights that Uzi stole his swag. His assumption is that Uzi got this from Atlanta artist Kodie Shane, who is featured in the cover art to the song on FaceTime with Uzi. Kodie Shane played a crucial role in Trippie’s early career, being the bigger artist at the time; actively sharing & making music with Trippie.
This would later prompt a response from Kodie Shane, who would take to an Instagram Live stating that she never did anything to insinuate tension between the two. She claimed that her & Uzi would listen to Trippie together, and was not even aware any of the drama surrounding the song until others brought it to her attention. Trippie was also not in contact with her, instead running to media outlets such as DJ Akademiks, despite their personal relationship.
Kodie Shane Response to Lil Uzi Vert And Trippie Red controversy over Luv Is Rage 2
All this drama surrounding a freebie on SoundCloud would ultimately result in nothing. Trippie & Uzi would go on to make music together, with their first officially released collaboration being “Holy Smokes” in 2021 on the album Trip At Knight. Kodie Shane & Trippie would continue to make music together as well, with their fourth collaboration releasing in 2018 with the song “Negative Energy” off of the album A Love Letter to You 3. In a deleted Instagram post, Trippie would even call that song one of his favorites off the project.
So was Uzi actually trying to put people on to Trippie? Did Trippie see a moment for clout & try to capitalize off of it? These questions can really only be answered by the artists themselves, but these small pockets of song history add to the mystique originally brought on by the release.