This is America - Childish Gambino

[sloopjohnc]

I don't know if anyone's seen this. It dropped Friday right after all the Kanye ruckus last week. I like his music and the video is a very strong social statement.



I don't know if anyone watches Atlanta, Donald Glover's show on TBS. It's very good. I'm coming to the conclusion, Donald Glover might be a genius.

[clive gash]

Don’t forget Solo.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I'm coming to the conclusion, Donald Glover might be a genius.

He’s great - and the same folks here who insist that it is important to stay current will be along any minute to dismiss him.

[sloopjohnc]

Saw a funny tweet regarding the video

[Jumper K]

It’s just so complex a video I’m still trying to reference half of the symbolism. I don’t often agree with sloop but credit where it’s due, It’s as near a masterpiece as you are likely to get. I was talking to an American rapper friend who pointed out that the music is specifically designed to get as much coverage as possible, once you are drawn in the real purpose is then revealed in the imagery.

[Tactful Cactus]

Genius is the kiss of death sloop, you're just setting them up for the fall.

I do like him though. His music is good, Awaken My Love was good. Atlantic is really good. Great writing, subtle light touch humour. It's well worth your time. He's no genius guys.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

If there is any genius here, it’s more about the visual than the song.

I like his songs, but this one wouldn’t be all that special absent the amazing video.

[Jumper K]

If there is any genius here, it’s more about the visual than the song.

I like his songs, but this one wouldn’t be all that special absent the amazing video.

Agree totally.

[sloopjohnc]

If there is any genius here, it’s more about the visual than the song.

I like his songs, but this one wouldn’t be all that special absent the amazing video.

More artists are doing this, however. Lemonade is good, but it's the videos that make it extra special.

[sloopjohnc]

II don’t often agree with sloop but credit where it’s due.

[naughty boy]

'genius' why exactly?

[BARON CORNY DOG]

THE MAN WAS WEARING CULOTTES* ON NATIONAL TV.




Or, if you prefer, koolats.

[sloopjohnc]

Genius is the kiss of death sloop, you're just setting them up for the fall.

He's just raised the bar for every video on this.

Okay, genius, might be pushing it, but between his rap career and Atlanta (you really gotta see it), he's at the top of his game. It has scenes like this all the time - that seem mundane, but are pretty deep. Glover writes it.

[sloopjohnc]

'genius' why exactly?

I think a better person to ask is Jumper's rapper friend. As an older American white guy, I catch some of the obvious stuff, but there are layers to this. Here's what the Atlantic wrote about it:

"The music itself is more art collage than song, its tunefulness a means rather than an end. Over a bustle of merry chants, foreboding bass, and James Brown yowls, Glover paraphrases the mode of popular hip-hop. Trending rappers drop by with their signature adlibs—“skrrt, skrrt” goes Slim Jxmmi (Sloop note: Glover also namechecks rapper Kodak Black)—and Glover strings together keywords: party, money, cops. The video clarifies the semi-satirical meaning here. Glover and a troupe of school kids perform choreography derived from viral videos and historical images of black performance, and Hiro Murai’s camera follows them often at an unnervingly indifferent midrange distance (Murai is one of Glover’s chief collaborators on Atlanta). A frenzy of pursuits, riots, and shootings unfolds in the margins. The song and dance routine is partly a respite from, and partly an accompaniment to, the chaos.


In this, Glover certainly isn’t the first artist to suggest that black popular entertainment can simultaneously work as minstrelsy, appeasing a racist system, and as a gas valve of joy for people crunched by that system. Nor is he the first to describe the psychic tax of this state of affairs, seen both when Glover’s character wearily lights a joint and when, in some other space that may well signify his subconscious, he runs in terror from a white mob. But Murai’s eye and staging and Glover’s performance are together so stylish and surreal that the message is made newly raw. Jarring use of empty space, contrast, and timing keep every frame stark and alive."

But there's also other stuff in there. Glover gunning down the choir recalls the Charleston church shooting by Dylan Roof.

[naughty boy]

OK - thanks

[Goat Boy]

I like it.

One thing that always strikes me when I watch old episodes of TOTP from the 80s is just how amateurish it all is. Rubbish dance routines, school disco fashion, that sorta thing and then you see something like that or Beyonce etc and you realise how professional popular culture is these days. Choreography, direction, visual style etc.

[pcqgod]

Glad to see the success he's been getting. "Community" was never as good after he left.

[mentalist (slight return)]

He's a modern day Renaissance man.

[sloopjohnc]

It's almost like he predicted Kanye going crazy. When I saw this, I thought it was the evolution of the Geto Boys', My Mind is Playin' Tricks on Me and 3rd Bass's Gasface.





Here are the lyrics. . .

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away

[Bridge: Childish Gambino & Young Thug]
We just wanna party
Party just for you
We just want the money
Money just for you
I know you wanna party
Party just for me
Girl, you got me dancin' (yeah, girl, you got me dancin')
Dance and shake the frame
We just wanna party (yeah)
Party just for you (yeah)
We just want the money (yeah)
Money just for you (you)
I know you wanna party (yeah)
Party just for me (yeah)
Girl, you got me dancin' (yeah, girl, you got me dancin')
Dance and shake the frame (you)

[Chorus: Childish Gambino]
This is America
Don't catch you slippin' up
Don't catch you slippin' up
Look what I'm whippin' up
This is America (woo)
Don't catch you slippin' up
Don't catch you slippin' up
Look what I'm whippin' up

[Verse 1: Childish Gambino, Blocboy JB, Slim Jxmmi, Young Thug, & 21 Savage]
This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo)
Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy)
Look at how I'm livin' now
Police be trippin' now (woo)
Yeah, this is America (woo, ayy)
Guns in my area (word, my area)
I got the strap (ayy, ayy)
I gotta carry 'em
Yeah, yeah, I'ma go into this (ugh)
Yeah, yeah, this is guerilla (woo)
Yeah, yeah, I'ma go get the bag
Yeah, yeah, or I'ma get the pad
Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like yeah (yeah)
I'm so dope like yeah (woo)
We gon' blow like yeah (straight up, uh)

[Refrain: Choir & Childish Gambino]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody
You go tell somebody
Grandma told me
Get your money, Black man (get your money)
Get your money, Black man (get your money)
Get your money, Black man (get your, Black man)
Get your money, Black man (get your, Black man)
Black man

[Chorus: Childish Gambino, Slim Jxmmi, & Young Thug]
This is America (woo, ayy)
Don't catch you slippin' up (woo, woo, don't catch you slippin', now)
Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy, woah)
Look what I'm whippin' up (Slime!)
This is America (yeah, yeah)
Don't catch you slippin' up (woah, ayy)
Don't catch you slippin' up (ayy, woo)
Look what I'm whippin' up (ayy)

[Verse 2: Childish Gambino, Quavo, Young Thug, & 21 Savage]
Look how I'm geekin' out (hey)
I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo)
I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci)
I'm so pretty (yeah, yeah)
I'm gon' get it (ayy, I'm gon' get it)
Watch me move (blaow)
This a celly (ha)
That's a tool (yeah)
On my Kodak (woo, Black)
Ooh, know that (yeah, know that, hold on)
Get it (get it, get it)
Ooh, work it (21)
Hunnid bands, hunnid bands, hunnid bands (hunnid bands)
Contraband, contraband, contraband (contraband)
I got the plug in Oaxaca (woah)
They gonna find you like blocka (blaow)

[Refrain: Choir, Childish Gambino, & Young Thug]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody
America, I just checked my following list and
You go tell somebody
You mothafuckas owe me
Grandma told me
Get your money, Black man (black man)
Get your money, Black man (black man)
Get your money, Black man (get your, Black man)
Get your money, Black man (get your, Black man)
Black man
(One, two, three, get down)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody
You go tell somebody
Grandma told me, "Get your money"
Get your money, Black man (Black man)
Get your money, Black man (Black man)
Get your money, Black man (Black man)
Get your money, Black man (Black man)
Black man

[Outro: Young Thug]
You just a Black man in this world
You just a barcode, ayy
You just a Black man in this world
Drivin' expensive foreigns, ayy
You just a big dawg, yeah
I kenneled him in the backyard
No probably ain't life to a dog
For a big dog

[Count Machuki]

It's almost like he predicted Kanye going crazy.

Yeah, who could have seen THAT coming?