Over the weekend, the theory that Childish Gambino, who had achieved massive success with his recent single, "This Is America," actually ripped-off another artist who made a song two years ago that sounded remarkably similar.
Internet detectives concluded that "This Is America" sounded awfully like the song "American Pharoah," a track uploaded to New Jersey rapper Jase Harley's Soundcloud.
Listening to the two songs back to back, they do share quite a few resemblances. The singing intro leading into the aggressive flow sounds remarkably like Childish Gambino's song that premiered at number one on the Billboard chart. Harley seems to see the resemblance as well, mentioning in his Instagram comments that he was pleased he could have some influence on the record.
While there has been no world from Gambino on the controversy, his manager, Fam Udeorji, had a very strong message to the people who believed that Gambino would steal a song from another artist.
"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," he wrote on Twitter. "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."
There you have it, straight from the source. It's possible that this was an instance of multiple discovery, or maybe just an unfortunate coincidence. Harley seems to not be too troubled by the rumors, maybe the rest of us shouldn't be as well.
