Cardi B has won her court battle over the cover art for her 2016 debut mixtape, Gangsta B*tch Music, Vol. 1, according to a report from Rolling Stone. The “Up” rapper was sued by a marketing manager at RVCA named Kevin Brophy for $5 million, claiming Cardi used his likeness on the mixtape’s cover art. On the cover art, Cardi appears to be receiving oral sex from a tattooed man, who Brophy says was modeled in his likeness with a similar back tattoo. Today (October 21), a Santa Ana jury found that Cardi did not use Brophy’s likeness, nor did she portray him in a negative light.
“It felt like my Michelangelo was stolen off the wall and just literally ripped off and robbed and just put wherever these people wanted to put it,” Brophy originally testified. “It looks like I’m giving oral sex to somebody that’s not my wife, somebody that’s not my partner, and an image that I never signed off on, ever.”
According to Law And Crime, Cardi also testified this week, saying, “There is not one evidence where people believe it’s actually him… hasn’t gotten fired from his job. He hasn’t gotten a divorce. How has he suffered? … Please tell me how he’s suffered.”
Representatives for Cardi did not immediately return our request for comment.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.