The Brief: A biter is someone who 'bites' or steals the ideas of another person.
DEEP DIVE
The phrase biter describes a person who copies other people. It is used heavily in hip-hop music as an insult.
For example, on Drake’s song “Uptown,” featured rapper Bun B calls out those who bite his swagger.
Kendrick Lamar does the same on “Rigamortus.”
However, the distinction between what constitutes biting versus paying homage is unclear, and borrowing lyrics is extremely common in rap. Take J. Cole’s song “Let Nas Down” for example, in which he directly quotes lyrics from Nas’s track “Nas Is Like.” While Cole is technically stealing Nas’s bars, he is clearly paying his respects to one of his idols.
