Kendrick Lamar is facing accusations that he stole artwork for the video for his song ‘All the Stars’. The track also feature’s the Compton rappers Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate SZA, and is the first song released off the soundtrack to Marvel’s Black Panther movie.
Per the New York Times, British-Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor was previously contacted by representatives from Marvel about the possibility of using her work in both November 2017 and December 2017, with the artist declining on both occasions.
However, it is not being claimed that images that starkly resemble some work from Viktor’s ‘Constellations‘ series, which can be compared to the image seen in the video at 2:59, seen above. NME now claims that Viktor’s lawyer Christopher Robinson has made contact with TDE’s CEO Anthony Tiffith, who produced the album that the song came from.
“It’s an ethical issue, because what the whole film purports is that it’s about black empowerment, African excellence—that’s the whole concept of the story”, Robinson told the New York Times.
“And at the same time they’re stealing from African artists.”
Lamar has recently embarked on a series of massive UK shows in support of his last full length LP DAMN., and performed the first of two dates at London’s O2 Arena last night.