Childish Gambino’s co-manager Fam Udeorji has heard enough of the chatter over the sonic similarities between Gambino’s This Is America and Jase Harley’s 2016 track American Pharaoh, which blew up a fair section of the internet yesterday. A quick recap: after American Pharaoh resurfaced online, some people on Twitter and Reddit quickly alleged that Gambino, aka Donald Glover, ‘stole’ the song from Harley – a claim that Harley didn’t dispute, as he wrote in an Instagram comment: ‘I always felt my song inspired it lol from the first time I heard it.’
He later addressed the furore further in the above Instagram post, writing: ‘I feel extremely humbled to be recognised and labeled as one or the original inspirations for one of the most important pieces of music and visual art of our time.’
And here are the two tracks in question – do you think they sound similar?