Childish Gambino is being sued for stealing his Grammy-winning song, “This Is America.” TMZ reported that Gambino, also known as actor Donald Glover, has been accused by rapper Kidd Wes of copying his song, “Made In America.”
Paperwork was filed with the US Federal court in New York suing Gambino for copyright infringement on May 6. Wes, whose legal name is Emelike Nwosuocha, published “Made In America,” on SoundCloud in 2016. He also registered the track in May 2017 with the U.S Copyright Office.
Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,”was released in 2018 and won both Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
A musicologist hired by Wes to compare the two songs said that the songs shared melodic similarities and rhythmic triplet flow that were “likely not coincidences.”
Also named as defendants in the complaint are RCA, Roc Nation and the rapper Young Thug. RCA is Gambino’s record label. Thug has a writing credit on the track and also performed backup vocals on the single.
Atlantic Records, producer Lüdwig Goransson, Kobalt Music, Sony Music Entertainment, 300 Entertainment, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music and Young Stoner Life Publishing LLC are also named in the complaint.
Pitchfork confirmed the complaint with Nwosuocha’s lawyers La’Shawn N. Thomas and Imran H. Ansari, who said that Nwosuocha wants to be credited and compensated for his music.
“The similarities between the two pieces of music are beyond coincidental, and amounts to infringement, as alleged in the complaint filed by our client, Emelike Nwosuocha, professionally known as Kidd Wes. Mr. Nwosuocha is confident in his claims, and simply seeks the credit and compensation he deserves for the unauthorized use of his music.”
Gambino has yet to respond to the complaint. Somebody’s got some ‘splaining to do, because the two songs do sound an awful lot alike. You can listen to both songs below.
