Poet and musician Ntsiki Mazwai set tongues wagging after claiming that American rapper Nicki Minaj copied her album cover.
Mazwai compared the cover of Minaj’s fourth studio album, Queen, released in August 2018, with that of her own album, The Masterpiece, released in April 2018.
“I will never forget how she copied my album cover, and then the system changed my release dates to try to hide it and make it seem like I was inspired by her.
“Luckily, I had a launch on YouTube with the correct date,” Mazwai wrote on Twitter.
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Minaj vs Mazwai album covers
Minaj’s Queen cover features her posed on a large tree trunk against an orange background. She is wearing a beaded outfit and a headpiece.
Mazwai’s The Masterpiece cover shows her reclining in front of a fiery, cloud-filled sky. She is wearing layered beadwork accessories and an outfit with symbolic elements such as birds and butterflies in the background.
Mazwai’s claim sparked mixed reactions on social media. Most netizens argued that the album covers are not similar.
Despite this, Mazwai maintained that Minaj copied her cover, suggesting that American artists take inspiration from African creators.
“Ufuna ukuthi [do you want to say] this was a coincidence? You think Americans don’t watch South Africans for inspiration? Really?” she wrote on Twitter.
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