Calvin The Second confirmed his appearance in the video Sunday on Instagram: “Got the call from one of my agents while up at Coachella that they wanted me for the shoot on Sunday, drove down and got to be a part of history.”. In one scene, black teenagers use their phones to record the chaos unfolding below, as their mouths appear to be covered by a white material. “This Is America” is exactly that. THIS Is America is the latest song from Childish Gambino, who is the alter ego of Donald Glover. "[3], Media outlets reported that a number of listeners accused Gambino of plagiarism over "This Is America", pointing out the similarities between the song and "American Pharaoh" by Jase Harley. The American jack of all trades dropped the controversial This Is America on Saturday Night Live this past Saturday, and not only is the view count on YouTube already at a staggering 63 million, but it seems like it’s the hot topic of the week all over the western world! The music video is packed with figurative imagery that people just can't stop analyzing. [18], The music video was directed by Hiro Murai and released on YouTube simultaneously with Gambino's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live. It starts off with a shirtless Gambino dancing through a warehouse, interacting with a series of chaotic scenes. "This Is America" is a song by American rapper Donald Glover, under his musical stage name Childish Gambino. It takes on gun violence in America. As a short film, This Is America is sharp as hell, and it holds its own alongside a spate of violent fantasies imagining life after Obama. “Fela Kuti reverberates in Childish Gambino’s body,” civil rights activist Michael Skolnik wrote of the video on Twitter. 30 Millionen YouTube-Abrufe in zwei Tagen: Mit dem verbittert brutalen Video "This Is America" bildet der US-Musiker Childish Gambino die prekäre Lebenswirklichkeit der Afroamerikaner in den USA ab. "This Is America" overtook Drake's "Nice for What" from the top position for two weeks. Viewers noted the similarities between her hairstyle and the Statue of Liberty’s crown. Don’t be like this.. #blacklivesmatterBtW j0iN mEh DisCoRd https://discord.gg/b5amGtk Daniel Kaluuya, best known as the star of the film Get Out which the music video reportedly references, introduced the song's performance. At a later point, Childish Gambino uses a Kalashnikov patterned automatic weapon to gun down a church choir, which viewers have interpreted as a reference to the 2015 Charleston church shooting. "This Is Not America" is a song by English singer David Bowie and American jazz fusion band Pat Metheny Group, taken from the soundtrack to the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman. Gambino and the video’s director, Hiro Murai, are both subtle and incredibly blunt about getting the message across. [31][32], Several artists attracted attention and millions of views for creating covers of the song and music video with altered lyrics and themes, retaining the song's instrumental and the general structure of its music video. "This Is America" is a song by American rapper Donald Glover, under his musical stage name Childish Gambino. is a half-hour series from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his return to series television for the first time in more than a decade. Natty Kasambala assembles a list of footnotes to the video, from … ‘This Is America’: The Childish Gambino video explained You will need to watch it more than once. Anyone who has seen the film “Get Out” likely picked up on the eerie vibes at the end of the video as Childish Gambino attempts to escape the warehouse. “Childish Gambino really made a reference to the Charleston church shooting that happened in 2015,” tweeted @EmanThatKid. I haven’t seen a Jim Crow picture in years. "This Is America" graphically depicts gun violence, with some claiming the video, in certain scenes, is trying to convey how firearms are treated with more respect than human lives. Here, he uses the ambivalent reception of black art to represent the tightrope of being black. This is America: theories behind Childish Gambino's satirical masterpiece The rapper, AKA Donald Glover, has released a cryptic new video that amassed … “This Is America,” then, is a bit of a reset. This book reminds us what an honor it is to live in the land of the free, and the qualities that make America so great, from the flag and the pledge to the mountains and the sea. The first person depicted as being shot in the video, a guitarist who had been accompanying Gambino's singing up to that point, was musician Calvin the Second, but was initially mistaken by many viewers to be the father of 17-year-old gun violence victim Trayvon Martin. A taste for irony has shaped his work ever since the early mixtapes, back in the late 2000s. Donald Glover did not come to play with y’all today. Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage and Quavo each deliver an ad-lib. The song is interpolated into a scene in the film Guava Island. This request for willful ignorance is then a desire to ignore this. With the release of ‘This Is America’ on May 5, Childish Gambino swerved straight into first place in the race for 2018’s best music video. This is one of the first of many repetitive phrases, creating an almost hypnotic suggestion. #ThisIsAmerica Ad-libs I heard 0:36/2:01/3:01/3:42 - Young Thug1:08 - Kendrick1:20/1:36/2:42 - BlocBoy1:21 - Big Sean1:26 - Rick Ross1:39/2:20/2:32 - 21 Savage1:40 - Lil pump2:06 - Slim Jxmmi2:14 - Offset2:25/2:30/2:44 - Quavo 3:08 - Aminé. Gambino is also the second Emmy Award-winning actor to reach number one on the Hot 100, the first being Justin Timberlake, who topped the chart with "Can't Stop the Feeling!" Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. Created by Sacha Baron Cohen. Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, has released a shocking music video for his song "This Is America" that is dominating the cultural conversation. [9][11] Young Thug returns to supply the song's outro. The music stops and people run away in fear, after which Gambino lights a joint. In typical Glover fashion, he dismissed close readings of his work in … And then we dance.”, No one caught the fact that at 2:13, a man jumps to his death. Sacha Baron Cohen offers his take on America's patriotism. “A minstrelsy mainstay played by white men in black face, and sometimes by black men in black face.”. “Much of this seems to take place in a building/warehouse where the foundation and support systems (the beams) are mostly white,” tweeted @JarridGreen. [12] It also touches on the subject of police brutality and misconduct. For other uses, see, International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage, List of number-one singles of 2018 (Australia), List of number-one urban singles of 2018 (Australia), List of number-one streaming tracks of 2018 (Australia), List of top 10 singles in 2018 (Australia), List of Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2018, List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand), List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2018, List of number-one R&B/hip-hop songs of 2018 (U.S.), Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2018, "Donald Glover's 'This Is America' Holds Ugly Truths To Be Self-Evident", "The Internet Has Already Devoured 'This Is America, "Childish Gambino Debuts Politically-Charged New Song "This is America" on SNL: Watch", "What It Means When Childish Gambino Says 'This Is America, "Childish Gambino 'This Is America' Reactions: The Good, The Bad & The Kanye Bashing", "Hello, Childish Gambino Just Dropped The Music Video Of The Year", "Donald Glover Is Watching You Watch Him", "2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List", "Here Are the Rappers Who Contributed to Childish Gambino's "This Is America, "Donald Glover tackles gun violence in powerful video for 'This Is America,' his new single", "Childish Gambino Collaborator Denies "This Is America" Plagiarism Allegations", "Childish Gambino Accused of Ripping Song for "This Is America, "Childish Gambino's manager denies accusation of plagiarism over "This is America, "Childish Gambino's "This Is America" Clocks 55 Million Views In Just Four Days", "Hiro Murai on the 'Atlanta' Finale and 'This Is America' Video", "Why the Dancing Makes 'This Is America' So Uncomfortable to Watch", https://www.qz.com/africa/1280777/childish-gambinos-african-pop-dance-moves-were-created-by-this-rwandan-choreographer/amp/, "Watch Childish Gambino's Caustic Video for New Song 'This Is America, "The 100 Greatest Music Videos of the 21st Century: Critics' Picks", "An Expert's Take on the Symbolism in Childish Gambino's Viral 'This Is America' Video", "Will Gompertz reviews Childish Gambino's This is America video", "Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2018: Critics' Picks", "EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2018 WINNERS – Camerimage 2018", "This Is America: Breaking down Childish Gambino's powerful new music video", "Nicole Arbour's feminist makeover of Childish Gambino's 'This is America' sparks backlash", "The hit "This is Nigeria" video tackles the country's worst problems one reference at a time", "Nigerian Rapper Goes Viral With His Take On 'This Is America, "You can't shut down 'This Is America' memes. “Women being hunted and killed while society does the gwara gwara.”, Shook by how fast I caught this reference. “Gambino’s lyrics state, ‘this is a celly, that’s a tool.’”. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. Today is National Voter Registration Day! Childish Gambino’s newest single “This Is America” is a catchy track, but what has people really talking is its music video. Childish Gambino took the internet by storm this weekend with the release of his new single “This Is America” and its accompanying music video loaded with haunting images of black oppression and gun violence. One of the most disturbing scenes in “This Is America” features an all-black church choir getting shot up with an assault-style rifle. “Childish Gambino reeks of talent,” tweeted @muchman16. One viewer suggested the apparent suicide scene points to a pervasive mental illness stigma plaguing the African-American community. Others pointed out how dance trends can distract from the life-or-death situations affecting black communities. Throughout the video, numerous vehicles from several decades ago are featured, many of them with their hazard lights flashing and the driver's side door ajar, which critics interpreted as representing fatal police shootings during traffic stops, particularly the shooting of Philando Castile, who was shot while in a 1997 Oldsmobile; others have interpreted that the older model cars represent the relative lack of upward mobility of African Americans. ©2021 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. The American Dream lays emphasis on hard work which guarantees an individual some respect in the society and a good life. “This Is America” is exactly that. The song is probably most effective in the jarring transition between the verses and chorus. The track has already gone viral, but what is it about and what exactly are the lyrics? "[21], The video contains many scenes involving violence. No copyright infringement intended, clips are not monetized. Toward the end of the video, Childish Gambino dances atop a red car surrounded by other decades-old cars with their hazard lights flashing and doors open. With Sacha Baron Cohen, Roy Elghanayan, Emanuela Postacchini, Alfred Pierce. Soon after, they listened to and watched Donald Glover’s “This Is America,” which has captured the attention of millions for a completely different reason. "This Is America" debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 31st song to do so in the chart's history. “Because this is America,” tweeted @Shugah. Viewers drew connections to the black men routinely killed by police during traffic stops, including Philando Castile in Minnesota in 2016. This Is America. [15] Billboard critics ranked it 10th among the "greatest music videos of the 21st century. 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