Accusations of plagiarism started swirling around Donald Glover after some people claimed that his hit song, "This Is America," sounded similar to another rapper's song.
Glover's song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and its much-lauded video became a viral sensation.
Glover, whose musical pseudonym is Childish Gambino, has drawn the ire of some folks online who believe that he may have copied writer, musician, and digital artist Jase Harley's "American Pharaoh."
View this video on YouTube
For context, here's Harley's song. You can listen for yourself and compare:
Some people are saying that the songs have similarities.
That Gambino/Jase Harley song is EXACTLY the same.
The beat, the flow, even the lyrical context is just straight up ripped off. The worst thing about it is that the original track is better.
In other factions of the internet, the conversation has become fodder for jokes.
Jase Harley: You can't bite this, my flyness is science Childish Gambino:
So how does Harley feel about all of this drama? Mostly fine, it seems.
On the rapper's Instagram, fans have been bombarding him with the news and he's responded to a few, saying, "I always felt my song inspired ["This Is America"] lol from the first time I heard it." That said, Harley maintains that "it's all love."
But Fam Udeorji — Glover's comanager at his label, Wolf & Rothstein — forcefully pushed back against the allegations by saying, "fuck you and your moms, and your future fetuses." He also decried the internet as a "place of no consequences."
the Internet is a place of no consequences. I hate that Toronto Akademiks/every white blogger can say something as gospel and y'all take it. this song is 3 yrs old, and we have pro tools files to prove it. but fuck you and your moms, and your future fetuses. stay blessed. https://t.co/z7AyyWgrOz
Udeorji, who also goes by Fam Rothstein, said that "This Is America" is actually three years old and that "we have pro tools files to prove it." The song by Jase Harley was released two years ago.
He then issued a response to media requests and said that his tweet would stand as the official comment from Glover's label.
you asked for a comment from the label, this is it @pitchfork
But BuzzFeed News has still reached out to representatives of Glover for additional comment.