Childish Gambino victorious in ‘This Is America’ legal battle
Rapper, singer, and actor Childish Gambino (real name Donald Glover) has won a court case regarding his 2018 hit, ‘This Is America,’ following a copyright dispute. After assessing the evidence presented, Judge Victor Marrero ruled that the case brought forth had no grounds.
Earlier this year, a relatively unknown rapper, Kidd Wes (real name Emelike Wesley), decided to reignite a lawsuit he and his legal team brought against Glover in 2021 for copyright infringement of his 2016 single ‘Made In America’, which he claimed was copied by Gambino for ‘This Is America’.
The original case brought before a New York court in 2021 claimed that Gambino’s flow was a copy of Wes’. The latter rhymed, “Made in America/ Flex on the radio/ Made me a terrorist/ Pessimistic n*ggas?/ You should just cherish this”, while Gambino rapped, “This is America/ Guns in my area/ I got the strap/ I gotta carry ’em” with a similar cadence.
Kidd Wes was seeking damages from Glover as well as several of the track’s co-writers, including Roc Nation and Young Thug, who provided backup vocals for the song. Although other artists, including Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, BlocBoy JB, Quavo of Migos, and 21 Savage, contributed, they were not mentioned in the lawsuit.
However, the case has, once again, been dismissed. Ruling in Glover’s favour, Judge Marrero revealed that even if Wes had filed the relevant paperwork (which he did not), he still would have thrown away the case as there are no similarities.
According to court records, the judge explained this by declaring, “Even if Kidd Wes had a copyright registration for the composition of Childish Gambino’s Composition, however, dismissal would be warranted here because the elements of Childish Gambino’s Composition purportedly infringed upon are insufficiently original to warrant protection or because they are not substantially similar to the Challenged Composition.”
‘This Is America’ was a huge hit, and the case, to many, appeared to be an opportunity for the up-and-coming emcee to make a name for himself and earn some much-needed quick cash.