Your thoughts on Childish Gambino's "This is America", mainly for the music video?

So, a little more closer to politics here as it has been subject to various breakdowns by NBC, WaPo and the like. But what are your thoughts on the Childish Gambino video for "This is America"?

After listening to it for the first time during SNL, I had no idea what to make of it until the actual music video, where I now think the song makes most sense.

@nintendoboy16: "where I now think the song makes most sense."

You should explain it to me :-P

I like political music, and this isn't an exception. Music is often robbed of it's poetic potential by an over saturation of bubble gum content, so pieces with a bit of gravitas are always welcome in my book.

That being said, this song doesn't "make sense" to me. It reminds me of T. S. Eliot in a different medium whereby it borders on loosely related stream of consciousness thoughts/images that form a sum greater than it's parts. That's not an insult by any means - I struggle with Eliot as well.

It's catchy. Some people say it's about gun violence in America, but others say it's deeper and suggests it's about gun violence in inner-cities, while citing the dancing kids as they distract themselves from the violence and dance.

All I got out of it is "this is America". I Don't get it.

He forgot about the part of the America that is bombing 7 countries.

Wait wait wait...are Childish Gambino and Donald Glover the same person?

imo it definitely looks and sounds a lot more specific than gun violence in general. Like you said, I think it might be about senseless violence, mostly in the inner-cities and peaceful settings, and how we blissfully ignore it after a short "thoughts and prayers" time.

I mean the whole tone of the song was beautiful guitar, followed by menacing bass and shooting, following by pretty choir singing, following by a mass shooting and the menacing rap, then bliss again with kids just on their phones in the balcony, then more violence.

That's a pretty accurate rendition of American culture at the moment: shit happens, pray on it, oh look everything is good again, until it's not. Repeat.

In essence, I think he is trying to demonstrate that something more significant needs to be done. Shit's only going to get worse as we become more accustomed to senseless violence. Hell I remember when Columbine happened, we were up in arms over that. Now a school shooting happens and I think "Gee that's too bad. Welp, whatcha gonna do, right?" which is bullshit.

So yeah, after writing all that, maybe it is about gun violence in general.

They are.

At first I thought he made SNL history by appearing on the show as both the cohost and musical guest, but as different people. Then I found out it had been done before by Garth Brooks/Chris Gaines.

I've heard a slightly different take which is that white America distracts itself from the problems Black America faces by watching their dancing and listening to their music instead of dealing with the problems.

Personally though I don't thing this video is as deep as people think it is and the message (whatever specific message it's trying to portray that is) gets lost, but maybe that's the point.

Also I saw this tonight and it was awesome.

All I took from it was that when we think of America we think of those things portrayed in the video, hence 'this is America.'

@nintendoboy16: So that is considered music?

I have no idea what that guy is on but he should share it with someone.

"Celebrities" seem to think they can easily go from acting to singing and singing to acting while doing both things in a quality manner. That one minute was one minute of crap.

Isn't that what some of the best works hinge on, though? Clues and prods into a general direction with just enough left unsaid to make identifying any explicit meaning a futile effort. People debate the meaning of a century old poem (The Road Not Taken) to death to this day in large part because it paints in broad brushes just clearly enough for readers to be sure they've found the profound meaning of the poem when in reality they've filled in the gaps with their own background.

What exactly was bad about it? It sounds like any other piece of music done today. If anything, I thought it did something a bit different by starting out with an acoustic riff and seamlessly transitioning into a rhythm-heavy verse with vocal backing on the chorus.

Yeah, I have to admit I was skeptical. From what I read it seemed like a very high-concept piece with a lot of esoteric references that nobody would understand. Then again, all I read was someone going on about references to minstrel shows and wondering what Glover is supposed to represent at the beginning. Leave it to the people who are supposed to be promoting art to completely misrepresent it to the larger public. Anyway, I thought it was a pretty powerful piece that's attempting to depict the black experience in modern America. People can pick it apart all they like, but I think the entire point is to view it in a gestalt manner. It works best as the sum of its part, not as any one part magnified and analyzed.

You just answered your own question.

If you want to be a stuck-up snob it's no skin off my back.

Ahh, ya i saw from another post above that he is the guy from Community which explains why this video is even a blimp on the music radar.

And he should have stuck with acting.

It´s easier to ask what was good about it than answering what was bad.

There are some good beats but the rest is like trying to understand someone on LSD who see pink elephants.

I think that's actually the point. Like I said before, I think the point of the video is to depict the nature of the black experience of America, and he's doing that in a way that's almost schizophrenic. There's the calm of the guitarist taking it easy, followed immediately by his shocking shooting. There are periods of melody, followed by manic drumbeats. There's the soulful choir being interrupted by a spray of gunfire. The point is that to be black in America is disconcerting. As soon as a level of comfort is achieved, it's upset by a horrific event. There's never any permanent feeling of safety, and in the background there are constant depictions of African Americans as violent and radical contrasting with the mostly easy-going foreground. Even when the foreground seems to be safe, i.e. not depicting senseless violence, there's the looming sense of conflict and uncertainty in the background. The music just reinforces this thematically. It's supposed to be disorienting because that's the experience it's attempting to convey.

PJW? One of Alex Jones' boys?

*spits out milk laughing*

@tryhardtroll: Isn't a white man paying his paycheck? :P

Edit: He looks as he is about to cry...

@horgen: He looks like that in every video. I feel like Alex Jones is behind the camera threatening him with a gun and demanding he says the dumbest things imaginablem

The two facets of the song, the lighthearted parts that glorify money and freedom juxtaposed by the ominous bass-heavy chorus to highlight the dark underbelly of America’s violent nature.

I thought it was fantastic.