#make sure

Carti opens ‘Timeless’ with a premise that closely mirrors mine, which has led many to discuss how original these ideas really are. It’s also worth mentioning that both artists mirrored my pose in their promotional photos, adding another layer to this conversation about homage versus imitation.

In their live performance as well as music video, Carti and The Weeknd can be seen adopting similar mannerisms (and style🕶️) to those in my ‘Make Sure’ performance video, further blurring the lines of originality. This isn’t the first time Carti or Opium have borrowed, as he previously echoed lines from past songs, like from ‘Soulja’ to ‘EvilJordan’, and other Opium members have used my campaigns for inspiration of their own with their album roll outs.

Lyrics like “let’s go” and references to “the sky” in ‘Timeless’ resonate closely with my work. One line stands out: “It’ll be a nice show but it’ll hurt cause we did it first?”—this seems to directly address the originality issue and suggests awareness of what came before.

There’s also a personal connections to one of the artist’s baby mothers in particular that could be influencing this situation but nonetheless the work speaks for itself.

While ‘Timeless’ is a nice lil song, the similarities to ‘Make Sure’ raise important questions about artistic integrity. Are we looking at genuine influence or something more direct? The debate continues.