Childish Gambino is being sued by an artist named Kidd Wes for ripping off “This Is America,” his viral hit single released in 2018.
Kidd Wes – real name Emelike Nwosuocha claims Gambino’s “This Is America” is a ripoff of his own track “Made In America.”
Kidd Wes says he created his track on SoundCloud in September 2016 and released it on YouTube a couple months later, so people could listen to it for free. He also claims he registered the song with the U.S Copyright Office in May 2017, and it was set to be the lead single on his upcoming album.
Childish Gambino released ‘This Is America’ in 2018 following his Saturday Night Live appearance. The controversial single, which featured additional adlibs and vocals from 21 Savage, A$AP Rocky and BlocBoy JB touched on everything wrong with the United States including gun violence, racism and police brutality.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Kidd Wes claims the chorus, or hook, of “This is America” is “unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical” to his own track “Made in America.”
Wes points to similarities in key lyrics in “Made In America” being similar to Childish Gambino’s version.
“Made in America / Flex on the radio / Made me a terrorist / Pessimistic n***as / You should just cherish this”
Compared to this: “This is America / Guns in my area / I got the strap / I gotta carry ’em”
Kidd Wes claims the similarities in both tracks are not coincidental and he wants compensation. He’s suing Gambino, the co-writers of “This is America,” the record labels involved, Roc Nation, and Young Thug … who sings backup vocals on the track.
“This Is America” won a Grammy for Record Of The Year.
Do you think he has a case? Listen to “Made In America” below via YouTube.