Who Is ZaZa?
Internet Culture

Who Is ZaZa?

by Savannah Hardman
Paper Magazine
03 March 2020

Following yesterday's Yeezy presentation at Paris Fashion Week, the internet went wild for North West's surprise performance on the runway. The 6-year-old Kardashian-West performed a rap over fellow toddler, 5-year-old viral fashion icon ZaZa's original song, "What I Do?," which debuted last summer.

Related | North West Rapped Onstage for Yeezy Season 8

As Kim and Kanye were proud parents watching young North perform, others questioned their lack of credit to the song's original creator.

After North's performance, ZaZa's parents took to Instagram to explain the backstory behind "What I Do?", and to ask the Kardashian-Wests to acknowledge their inspiration.

Shortly after ZaZa's parents' Instagram post, Kim expressed her pride of North via Twitter, while also giving a little shout-out to ZaZa. She then commented on ZaZa's Instagram post, claiming she "didn't mean to not give credit where credit was due."

While this seemed to resolve the matter at hand (ZaZa's parents posted Kim's comment to their story with the caption "All love, all good"), it brings to light a much larger, ongoing problem. Celebrities of Kardashian caliber are often caught referencing — or even appropriating — the work of lesser-known artists without giving credit (think: when Ariana Grande's "7 Rings" sounded a little too familiar to Princess Nokia's "Mine").

Naturally, Twitter users had a lot to say on the matter, below:

Photo via Getty

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