American actor and rapper, Donald McKinley who is also known by the stage name Childish Gambino took a swipe on Kanye West’s 10th studio album, Donda.
Gatekeepers News reports that Donda, which was released on Sunday, has 27 tracks that feature notable artistes, including Jay-Z, Vory, Favio Foreign, Shenseea, the late Pop Smoke.
The album which was said to be released without West’s authorization has been analysed by netizens who have drawn similarities between his album cover and Childish Gambino’s 2020 project “3.15.20″, which has a plain grey-toned box.
Kanye, whose cover art selections have since ventured off to feature an array of things, including a blank CD with red-tape, opted for a black-tone square.
“Childish Gambino walked so Kanye can run,” wrote a Twitter user, who shared a side-by-side photo of the two album covers.
“Who had the better album cover. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino or Donda by Kanye?” another person questioned.
While someone else said, “Crazy how nobody’s calling out Kanye for literally stealing Childish Gambino’s 3.15.20 cover and just inverting the colors.”
Another critic even speculated similarities in music production. “Wait, y’all talking about the album cover but not chord progressions? Oh, my bad. Respect to Childish and Kanye. Definitely would love that collab.”
Childish Gambino himself, in reaction, tweeted “I love being influential.”
Glover’s tweet about being influential is currently the only post on his account that isn’t a reply as he doesn’t often post much on the microblogging platform.
Gatekeepers News reports that aside the album cover news, West is also accused of copying a logo design for his album’s merchandise.
Randy Dawkins, a creative director of the fashion line and Black-owned business Infinity G8ds, told the Daily Beast that the fashion designer’s merchandise features a direct replica of the design featured on his brand’s T-shirts and hoodies.
“It’s disappointing,” Dawkins told the outlet. “We don’t have any bad vibes or bad feelings toward him, we actually like the dude. But how he handled business? Well, that’s another story.”
