‘This Is America’: 8 Facts on The American History by Childish Gambino (Meaning)
One picture worth a thousand words
One visual worth a thousand songs
One simple message with several layers
One piece of art worth the whole History of a country.
Donald Glover gave a few days ago something for the world to reflect on and think about.
Without giving any prior notice, his recent music videos speaks for itself. A huge media coverage has been done already to depict the layers in the video. With “This Is America”, Childish Gambino conveys a powerful message that hit racism and gun violence in America. Plus it addresses the Entertainment industry which keeps distracting the world from the chaos that is occurring nowadays. Many other things are yet to be considered in this video.
This body of work is historical. This might be one of the most impactful pieces since the Kendrick Lamar’s Alright video. As an actor, writer, singer, rapper and now dancer Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino is an artist worth studying and his latest work deserves a special consideration.
Explanations: 8 facts on the American History
1) Racism & Gun Rights: specific code of colors to paint the context
White background
The guitar in the middle of a white background stands for the Entertainment industry, as the only way for a Black man to get money and recognition in a White world.
We just wanna party
Party just for you
We just want the money
Money just for you (yeah)
These lyrics resonate with J. Cole‘s song off of his recent KOD album. In this album Cole is dressing a commentary on the current hip hop culture in his song 1985, Intro To The Fall Off
“But I love to see a Black man gettin’ paid
And plus you’re havin’ fun and I respect that
But have you ever thought your impact
These white kids love that you don’t give a fuck
Cause that’s exactly what’s expected when your skin black
They wanna see you dab, they wanna see you pop a pill
[…] They wanna be black and think your song is how it feels
So when you turn up, you see them turnin’ up too”
Red, synonymous for Death
Red announces Black people in lethal danger in this music video. What is more, such color stands for blood and violence. Here, Childish Gambino uses a dark sense of irony and recreates the horror scene of racial slaughters (Charleston shooting).
Doing so, he’s subtly referring to the political debate for Gun Rights and Gun Control, which refers to the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. This debate is a great deal for Americans as it questions one fundemental point in the History of the country and the safety and accountability of civilians. However, in the Entertainment industry, in spite of such a situation, entertainers still feed the culture with downgrading contents that promote gun violence.
2. Consumerism: Two Chains, two states of slavery (materialist & mental)
The two chains stand for the consumerism valorised in hip hop culture and mental slavery, Institutionalized as Kendrick Lamar would say.
“You lookin’ at artists like the harvests
So many Rollies around you and you want all of them
Somebody told me you thinkin’ ’bout snatchin’ jewelry”
3. Dance Moves With A Message
The Gwara-Gwara dance : reference to South Africa’s segregation
Placing this dance in front of American police cars is a hint to the White Supremacy and the legal and political system designed to oppress Black people: segregation, systemic racism, unpunished police violences, massive incarceration of Black people and slavery.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” – 13th Amendment of the American Constitution
The Shoot Dance Challenge
This dance move has gone viral in 2018, seen as funny. The only thing is these moves come from a gangsta rap video – “BlocBoy JB and his hit song “Shoot” which has taken over locker rooms, school hallways, and dance battles everywhere“.
The dance that’s taken off is shown at 2min35sec in the clip.
Entertainers could have the impact to Save The Children, like Joey Bada$$, or they could rather enslave minds and kill the culture. Hip Hop hypnotizes, as Lamar would say:
Fire burning inside my eyes, this the music that saved my life
Y’all be calling it hip hop, I be calling it hypnotize
Yeah, hypnotize, trapped my body but freed my mind.
4. Songwriting: The sound of the Blackest Joy
This Black joy is revolutionary, as Akua Naru would say. From the slave fields to the these days, Black people made the most joyful music. From the dirt and the pain, they keep singing with a smile on their faces.
This Is America is a good song, an actual blend of African rhythms peacefully played on the guitar along cheerful back vocals. The trap beat is slowly shadowing the glow of this Black joy, while Black singers keep singing lyrics written with irony. The bass is painting dark shades along the verses, reflects of chaotic times and lethal environment.
These bass lines and the choir’s back vocals always play separately until the last part of the song, which gives the large picture for Black people in a White America.
5. Back to the Blaxpoitation era
At times, he even recalls Isaac Hayes, an icon for Soul music, as angry and willing to prove hs worth in America as Donal Glover. Isaac Hayes is one of the icons of the Blakspoitation movies that emerged in the early 1970’s, addressed to black urban audience. Despite stereotypes, these were the only films where Black people had the roles of the heroes, instead of being portrayed as sidekicks or as victims of brutality.
Glover’s style, moving bare-chested, in the middle of old cars, with long black hair and beard, all of this added to the James Brown’s adlib “Get down!” from The Boss.
James Brown was also known for politically charged songs such as Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m Proud and America Is My Home. These associations give the feeling to go back to the 1970’s. This won’t be the first time that Gambino takes us back to this era through his music (ex: Redbone).
“I don’t sleep, I’m tired, I feel wired like codeine, these days […]
My mind is infested, with sick thoughts that circle
Like a Lexus, if driven wrong it’s sure to hurt you
Dual level like duplexes, in unity, my crew and me
Commit atrocities like we got immunity
You guessed it, manifest it in tangible goods […]
Getting cream let’s do this, against T-D-S
So I keep one eye open like, C-B-S, ya see me stressed right? Can I live?”
6. Detroit and the riots in 1967
This riot happened to be one of the most murderous one in the history of the United States of America, since 1863 for the Draft Riots. In the same year, more than 150 riots occurred from Atlanta, to Boston, Chicago, New York,…
Pillaging, fire, shooting, confrontation with police force… it was all just like in the background of the video. These riots were the consequences of bad social conditions and growing Black poverty in Detroit and strong discrimination still existing despite quiet racial relations.
7. Automobile Economy – Detroit, aka Motor City, aka MoTown
Cars economy have historically been a main source of revenue for America. This industry was thriving in Detroit, The city was not only the city of hits in Soul music (MoTown) but also the Motor City.
Detroit, the Motor City, became one of the most important destinations for black migrants from the south because of its reputation as a major center of car production.
“In 1940, only three percent of the auto industry workforce was black. […] By 1970, about one in five Detroit auto workers was black, a sizeable increase from 1960. […] Over the last one hundred years, the automobile industry has played a crucial role in African American history, for blacks were both producers and consumers of the car.
The car brought mobility–geographic and economic–to blacks. It freed them from the shackles of Jim Crow public transportation, became a symbol of black economic aspirations, and served as one of black America’s major employers. Yet automobile-related discrimination and inequalities were frustratingly persistent”. (Source: Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America by Thomas J. Sugrue).
Watching Gambino stepping and dancing on the top of one these old cars, while the vocals keep singing “Black man, get your money” looks like he’s about to take over and be the boss.
Whay is more, having SZA posing like a queen, emphasize the idea that Donald Glover is addressing White privilege.
8. In conclusion, the value of Black lives are still in question in America
In spite of all the richness, the culture, the music, and the economy Black people represent, the harsh reality is to wake up to a world that keeps telling you: “You’re just a Black man, you’re just a dog”.
From the era of the legends of jazz (like Charlie Parker, or Billie Holiday) to nowadays, Black people are still in a White world (White Privilege), and are still victims of racism, despite their glow and their contribution to the country and the culture.
Again, as Jay Z raps: still ni**a (OJ Story).
This is something also known in the French entertainment.
Comedian Thomas N’Gijol recently released a meaningful skit that points out the lack of recognition for Black artists in cinema and music, artists being desperately endorsed with racial stereotypes and victims of discrimation and boycott at awards.
