Donald Glover’s “This Is America” blew up in May, as we collectively attempted to deconstruct its message and visuals. The video now has close to 300 million views. But is the song pulled from a 2016 track called “American Pharaoh?”
Over the weekend, people started debating whether Glover lifted “This Is America” from an artist named Jase Harley. The cadence of the vocals and the beat are similar, as is the melody in the interlude. Both songs have similar themes and lyrics. Played over the “This Is America” video, the similarities come into focus a bit more.
https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/1010970604026068993
The songwriting credits for “This Is America” list only Glover and longtime creative partner Ludwig Göransson, who produced his 2016 album Awaken, My Love! Some commenters claimed it was plagiarism, while others asserted it could just be coincidence, or some grey area in between, where perhaps Glover’s team did reach out to Harley in some capacity.
https://twitter.com/jrewl/status/1011048747134959616
Harley allegedly acknowledged the similarity in an Instagram comment and doesn’t appear to be salty about it, though he did mention “a shout out would be cool.”
https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/1011083016255483905
We’ve reached out to Harley for comment, as well as Glover’s representatives, and will update if we hear back.
Update 2:15pm CT, June 25: Glover’s manager says the song is 3 years old and says he has the audio files to prove it. However, he has since deleted this claim, which arrived via Twitter.
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