Awaken, My Love!

Who Is On Childish Gambino’s ‘Awaken, My Love’ Album Cover?

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A new post is going viral online after the woman who appears on the cover of Childish Gambino‘s Awaken, My Love album claimed that she and her team never received the residuals they were promised. Here’s what to know about who she is, and the situation that reportedly happened.

Who Is On Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love Album Cover?

The model who appears on the album cover is Giannina Otero, who reportedly recently made a Facebook post about Gambino’s handling of the situation.

“We received low pay but were promised residuals but never received anything,” she said. “The only person who received residuals was a white woman who created the headpiece even though she was not on set to work on this (but she also deserves it).”

“After years of lies and silence then finding out statute of limitation complications… it’s been an exhausting, emotional, and overall sad thing to deal with,” Otero added. “So it took so much from me especially the fact that we all worked on it with so much love and being proud to represent black artists. All of my lawyers’ communications have been ignored by the artist and his team.”

The post also included a photo of Otero posing with a copy of the record. She made note that while she is proud of being on the cover, she also had a lot of complicated feelings and trouble celebrating the album.

Check out a copy of her post below.

Childish Gambino Accused Of Not Paying “Awaken, My Love!” Cover’s Team

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Giannina Antonette Oteto may be an unknown name to you, but you have definitely seen her before. Moreover, she graces the cover art of Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover’s, “Awaken, My Love!” album cover from back in 2016. Creative director Ibra Ake took the picture of Oteto wearing a beaded headdress by WXYZ Jewelry designer Laura Wass. However, for years, Oteto has accused the multi-disciplinary artist and his team of avoiding legal contact to actually receive payment for her contribution to the project, and that she’s not alone in this fight. Recently, she took to Facebook to update followers on the matter and comment on the bittersweet emotions she holds for this work.

“Being able to hold an album that I’m on the cover of,” Giannina Oteto captioned a (seemingly since-deleted) picture of her holding a vinyl pressing of Childish Gambino’s album. “And having my bestie mom next to me to celebrate! My number 1 cheerleader! This album has been so hard for me to celebrate for many reasons, and for years I resented it even. It put me through a lot but finally being able to celebrate it means a lot! Update: I resented it because myself, the makeup artist, and stylist (all black women) were [taken] advantage of and lied to.

Read More: Childish Gambino Believes Rap Isn’t Growing Like It Used To

Childish Gambino Accused Of Mistreating Artists Who Worked On Album Cover

“We received low pay. [They] promised residuals. But [we] never received anything,” she continued. “The only person who received residuals was a white woman who created the headpiece even though she was not on set to work on this (but she also deserves it). After years of lies and silence then finding out statute of limitation complications… it’s been an exhausting, emotional, and overall sad thing to deal with. So it took so much from me especially the fact that we all worked on it with so much love and being proud to represent black artists. All of my lawyers’ communications have been ignored by [Childish Gambino] and his team. #bittersweet.”

Furthermore, the model also reposted various drawings she received since “Awaken, My Love!”‘s release. As such, she clearly appreciates her contributions and opportunities, but rightfully thinks that she and many others deserve more. We’ll see if the actor eventually responds to all this. For more news and the latest updates on Childish Gambino, check back in with HNHH.

Read More: Childish Gambino Won’t Be Retiring Any Time Soon

The post Childish Gambino Accused Of Not Paying “Awaken, My Love!” Cover’s Team appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Donald Glover Reveals The ‘Extremely Petty’ Reason That Pushed Him To Make ‘Awaken, My Love!’

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After the success of his second album Because The Internet, Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, reached new heights in 2016 with the release of his third album Awaken, My Love! The project was a large shift in the sound that was present on Because The Internet, as Glover had songs that featured him singing as opposed to rapping along with production that combined psychedelic soul, funk, and R&B. As of today, Awaken, My Love! is Glover’s most successful album and during a recent appearance on LeBron James’ HBO show The Shop, he explained what inspired him to create the album.

“Did you ever tap into something that is in you that you feel is kind of bad to win?” Childish Gambino asked the group that included Lebron and Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson. “Because I struggle with that. I am naturally petty. Like, extremely petty” He revealed that he made Awaken, My Love! to prove an unnamed critic wrong. “Awaken, My Love was literally because somebody said, ‘Oh, he can’t make a hit.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, not only will I make a hit, I won’t make a single video for it.’”

After its release in December 2016, Awaken, My Love became his highest-charting release after it debuted at No. 5 on the albums chart. The project also birthed Glover’s most successful single with “Redbone” which peaked at No. 12 on the singles chart and is currently 5X Platinum.

You can view the clip from the upcoming episode above. The full episode airs on March 4 at 9 am PST exclusively on UNINTERRUPTED’s YouTube channel.