Last night, Kanye West and Kid Cudi jointly closed out Tyler The Creator’s annual Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival in Los Angeles in a set that sent tongues wagging. It was their first live appearance under their rap group name Kids See Ghosts, and they mostly stuck to material from the record by the same name that dropped last year, while also mixing in older songs they cooked up together in the past, including “Welcome To Heartbreak,” and “Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1.”
The thing that stirred up the most social media chatter, however, was the stage design. A large shipping container-looking made out of what appeared to be plexiglass that floated over the heads of the crowd, backlit by a large LED screen and a lot of pyro. Some felt like they’d seen the design before, however, on Lorde’s extensive Melodrama tour last year, to the point that the New Zealand-based pop star finally spoke out about it, sharing a note on her Instagram story.
it appears Lorde has seen Kanye’s new Kids See Ghosts stage 👀👁👀 pic.twitter.com/mqpFvn4nls
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) November 12, 2018
“I’m proud of the work I do and it’s flattering when other artists feel inspired by it, to the extent that they choose to try it on themselves,” she wrote. “But don’t steal — not from women or anyone else — not in 2018 or ever.”
It’s a bold statement, but in her defense, the similarities between the two set pieces are uncanny to the point where it’s difficult to imagine its a mere coincidence. Kanye West and Kid Cudi have yet to respond to the criticism.
