After literal years of delays, the lawsuit against Cardi B over her Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 cover art has finally gone to trial. Cardi took the stand yesterday (Wednesday, October 19), lashing out against Kevin Brophy and his attorney A. Barry Cappello, accusing them of shaking her down for money. Brophy first filed the suit against Cardi in 2017, claiming he was “devastated, humiliated and embarrassed” by the mixtape’s cover, which featured his distinctive back tattoo superimposed on a model posing like he was going down on Cardi.
Brophy’s case argues copyright infringement; Cardi’s defense hinges on the fact that she paid a designer for the cover, who found a photo of Brophy’s tattoo on Google, and she had no way of knowing who the tattoo belonged to. According to Billboard, the judge had to actually dismiss the jurors from the courtroom to tell Cardi and Capello to chill out, even going as far as threatening to declare a mistrial.
For her part, Cardi was incensed at the suggestion that Brophy’s image had contributed so much to her meteoric rise. “This is not about taking anything down,” she said. “Y’all have been harassing me for $5 million.” She explained that the mixtape didn’t earn much money and she only received a percentage of its profits in the first place. For what it’s worth, she might have a point; GBMV1 didn’t receive much attention (which is a shame, she really set the stage for her future growth on it, and it’s interesting to see how she built on the foundation it laid). Even its follow-up, Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 2, didn’t get a notable reaction in comparison to her single “Bodak Yellow,” which launched her to stardom.
Meanwhile, Cardi remains skeptical of Brophy’s claims. “It’s not Mr. Brophy’s back,” she said Wednesday. “It doesn’t look like Mr. Brophy at all. There has been not one receipt he has provided in the court claiming, ‘Hey, that’s you on Cardi’s mixtape.’” The verdict in the case is expected today.
