MADY BLOG

Description

This song “This is America” was written by Childish Gambino otherwise known as Donald Glover. The song was written by Glover, Ludwig Göransson, and Jeffery Lamar Williams, and produced by Glover and Göransson, it was released on May 5, 2018, at the same time that Gambino was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live. The song features background vocals by other influential rappers and voices within our society including Young Thug, The Migos, Quavo, 21 Savage, and more. The video received about 12.9 million views in 24 hours, and has over 636,143,160 views as of January 2020.

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Analysis

 The beginning of the song illustrates a gospel choir, a traditional African American cultural form of music, usually with purposes of spreading hopeful messages. This music has helped ethnic minorities cope with the challenges of life for many centuries. ‘Gospel’ comes from the old English goð (good) spell (news, message), literally meaning ‘good news’. Following this, Childish explains his personal desires as the average American millennial. “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. The entire music video is set in an empty warehouse, representing the United States. Throughout the film, Gambino uses guns and people to represent how the laws are treating the people within America. These same weapons that kill the lives of these Americans seem to be treated with more respect than the people shot. After shooting the man, the pistol is wrapped carefully in a silk cloth and carried away by a child, the corpse is disrespectfully dragged away. Throughout the film, Gambino stresses the dangers for an average black man in America. He also stresses that there's no harm for people who don't get caught up when “slippin up.” “This is America, Don’t catch you slippin’ up, Don’t catch you slippin’ up, Look what I’m whippin’ up. Childish refers the “bag”, and the “pad” (referring to the notepad of an author/ writer), explaining how hard work is required to make a life for yourself in America. “He holds a mirror in front of us to open our eyes to the real problems facing American society – racism, violence and gun possession.”

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Interpretation 

The video does a great job of sharing a reality that many Americans live. Throughout the video, black oppression and gun violence is shown through the actors and people living their lives naturally. The video illustrates how a great life can all end in just one short moment. This is similar to the lives of the typical American, always threatened and put second against certain laws and by the government. This behavior needs to stop, and not only do laws need to change, the people of Americas voices need to be heard. The authority and government needs to start caring about the lives of the people. His main purpose of writing and producing the song/ music video “This is America” was to spread the message explaining how Americans can put gun safety before human rights and safety. In line The song addresses the wider issue of gun violence in the United States, the high rate of mass shootings in the United States, along with longstanding racism and discrimination against African Americans. A lot of this video shows black oppression and gun violence and helps explain how unfair life can be for typical Americans just trying to get by and live a fair life.

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Evaluation

I think that Childish Gambino wants the young people of America to know that we shouldn’t restrain from being distracted by superficial things such as entertainment, the trivial aspects of current (popular) culture – parties, money, social media. We need to address the things going on in our present day and change the “norm”. Some people have claimed that the video “This is America” has basic symbolism, but the message behind it all is relatable for many and helps stress the struggles that many individuals actually do face throughout their entire lives.

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Engagement

 Childish Gambino is known as being a very influential voice in today’s society. The video received about 12.9 million views in 24 hours, and has over 636,143,160 views as of January 2020. This video has allowed many young Americans to work up the courage to step forward and have a voice of their own with all of the risks within today’s society.