Nearly three years ago, Childish Gambino was sent a copyright infringement lawsuit from fellow rapper Kidd Wes. The latter felt that "This Is America" was "unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical" according to those past legal documents. However, almost two years later, on March 24, 2023, Judge Victor Marrero of a New York federal court dismissed the lawsuit. It was ultimately decided that there were not enough similarities between the Gambino's version and Kidd Wes' "Made In America," which was released a year prior in comparison. Now, according to AllHipHop, Wes is still searching for justice, as he recently filed a second lawsuit against Gambino.
Pulling information from Courthouse News, they discovered that this was put in motion on Monday, April 15. To get more technical about this, Judge Marrero originally shut this down because Kidd Wes failed to copyright the underlying musical composition of "Made In America." Because of that, Kidd Wes would have lost with proper copyright registration all together. Of course, there was massive pushback from his attorney Gregory William Keenan.
Does Kidd Wes Have An Argument Against Childish Gambino?
He saw this is as an "administrative mistake." Keenan stated, "An applicant for a copyright registration, especially one who’s not a lawyer, might check the wrong box on the registration documents as a result of some legal oversight." Jonathan Davis, Gambino's lawyer argued that this [was] not a mere error." Wes and his team are currently awaiting the results of their second attempt, so be sure to check back with us when we find out more.
What are your thoughts on Childish Gambino being sued again? Do you think this lawsuit will have a different result, why or why not? Listening to the songs back-to-back, do you spot any glaring similarities? Is this song still in your rotation? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Childish Gambino. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on around the music world.