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"This is America": an Analysis of Childish Gambino's Song

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Updated: 8 November, 2023

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Works Cited:

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• Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16-20.
• Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256-273.
• Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.
• Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2017). What Predicts Children's Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-Sets? Not Their Parents' Views of Intelligence but Their Parents' Views of Failure. Psychological Science, 28(6), 776-785.
• Hong, Y. Y., Chiu, C. Y., Dweck, C. S., Lin, D. M., & Wan, W. (1999). Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 77(3), 588-599.
• Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(1), 33-52.
• Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2015). Mind-set interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science, 26(6), 784-793.
• Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational psychologist, 47(4), 302-314.

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This is America: Exploring Lyrical and Visual Symbolism

The Unites States has had a long history with strong elements of racial oppression. Despite many great leaps forward in the Civil Rights movement, most prominent in the 1950’s and 60’s, there are still various issues that remain sadly prevalent in the 21st century. There may be some who state that these problems are exaggerated, but those voices probably aren’t too steeped in personal experience. In the last few years, social media has significantly boosted awareness of violent racial oppression, particularly towards black men. Shootings involving black men and police officers became a prominent focal point of social media outlets. The sad truth is, these unfortunate altercations are simply putting a deeply embedded issue under a much brighter spotlight. Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” highlights this unfortunate state of events both through the lyrical poignancy, tonal contrast and disturbing visuals through the accompanying music video.

A Lyrical Examination

Gambino’s lyrics are fascinating due to a certain ambiguity of specific meaning. However, enough focus on verbal choice to create thoughtful and somewhat haunting possibilities is strongly suggested. The song is probably most effective in the jarring transition between the verses and chorus. The opening is introduced with a gentle gospel choir in the background singing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go, away”. This is one of the first of many repetitive phrases, creating an almost hypnotic suggestion. It’s almost as if the choir is suggesting that there isn’t really any problem and that we don’t really have to pay to close attention. We, the listeners, can just “go away”. This could be indicative of the tendency of society to ignore blatant social issues, simply going about the business of their day to day lives.

This is further emphasized by the following lyrics, “We just wanna party, Party just for you, We just want the money, Money just for you”. This echoes the general consensus of a reflection of a society focused on excess and monetary gain. In this instance, the voices could be from the perspective of minorities, African-Americans, who simply want the benefits of financial stability and the benefits of it. The opening also could suggest the idealized version of America. In a nation where social issues are often ignored in favor on individuals focused on the material, problems could continue without any changes enforced. The jarring shift comes during the chorus, as the transition begins with the sound of a gun shot, leading into a faster and more hectic tempo, complete with a more traditional hip-hop beat and an ominous electronic bass sound. Lyrically, the song takes on an almost different identity. The chorus flows into the verse, leading to a more chaotic contrast. The chorus goes, “This is America, don’t catch you slippin up”. This refrains from the first verse, in which everything seems fine. This sharp turn interjects with a statement accompanying the gunshot. The gunshot is America, or rather a bigger part of American culture than some may want to accept, almost breaking through the façade that everything is perfectly acceptable in modern American society.

The lyrics continue with more narrative focus by our narrator, “Look at how I’m livin now, Police be trippin now, Yeah this is America, Guns in my area, I got the strap, I gotta carry em. ” Here the lyrics are a bit more blatant. Gambino may simply be stating the facts of living as a black man in the United States. It’s far from perfect. He asks us to take a look at how it really is to live as a black man in today’s society. He asks us to look at the relationship between police brutality and African-Americans. Many ideas could be suggested by the lines regarding the presences of guns and gun violence. Gambino, representing a black man, sounds as is if he is confirming that he does indeed have a gun. In fact, he states that he must carry one. From that perspective, this indicates a choice. It should be noted that this line doesn’t take into account specific racial, cultural or socio economic factors. Gambino doesn’t state that he’s a criminal or even that he feels the need to use a gun for violent purposes. Rather, it seems almost that he’s stating the need to carry guns due to the environment pressures he feels around him. Due to his cultural living conditions and specific fear of the police tendencies towards racial violence, it proposes another side to the gun violence problem.

Gambino and his featured artists make it even clearer regarding the lack of priorities in our society in following verses, “Grandma told me, Get your money, Black man.” This demonstrates a generational message many African-Americans may feel. Due to the longstanding effects of racial attitudes, this had led to many disadvantages for people of color since the ending of slavery and the Reconstruction centuries before. For years since, minorities have been fighting the odds to reach a general level of equality in the United States. In simple terms, achieving a more stable economic status could hopefully guarantee a safe and happy place in the culture. However, as events have shown, simply having more money and achieving a greater status is not enough to dilute hundreds of years of embedded racial attitudes. Gambino uses examples of status that should suggest stability and happiness but ultimately mean little in the grand scheme, “I’m so fitted, I’m on Gucci…this is a celly, That’s a tool, On my Kodak.”

Perhaps the heaviest weight is in the final verse of the song, “You just a Black man in this world, You just a barcode…Drivin expensive foreigns.” This reinforces the dynamic between the pursuit for material gain being the dominant focus of black men, though it has done little to help provide a life of true freedom and prosperity. The final lines inform us of Gambino’s feelings regarding the status of African-Americans today, “You just a big dawg, yeah, I kenneled him in the backyard, No probably ain’t life to a dog, For a big dog.” Here Gambino twists the shallow lifestyle with the use of the slang term into what he claims he feels. In American society, it’s being suggested that black men are equated to a lesser class, simply pushed to the side and treated as less than human. This final line is both haunting and damning in what it states regarding race relations.

The Music Video

The lyrics are certainly strong in their message, but the themes are strengthened further by the images in the video. Accompany the gospel chanting of the introduction, the first image is that of a black man sitting solitarily and playing a guitar. Gambino appears and is dancing happily. The image further emphasizes the idea of African-Americans having perceived idea of what is hoped for or even expected of them. This is then interjected with Gambino shooting this man in the back of the head, leading into the previously mentioned chaotic chorus. In the background, the video is a clash of images . We see Gambino accompanied by school children who dance with him. However, the video continues to escalate with conflicting images of him dancing with children, while more violence seems to be going on just out of focus. The video could be suggesting that the society’s collective view of the topic is, in fact, out of focus. It’s also fitting that children would be at the center of the chaos, as the problem would certainly have an effect of future generations.

The video, much like the song itself, seems to demonstrate the conflict within the singer and perhaps black culture overall. Characters in the background are just interchanged between dancing and singing together to running in fear as riots appear to be escalating around them. This type of dancing could have another meaning as well. In addition to the suggestion of naïve and even manic glee, the style of dance has been suggested as a nod to a type of dance called Gwara Gwara. This type of dance originated in South Africa, a nation with a long history of oppression between races. The historical context is there as well, hinting that the roots of the issues have had lasting implications linked all the way back the origin of the slave trade. Much like the shift tempo of the song, the images shift contrastingly with bursts of violence. For instance, Gambino comes across of a group of people dancing in a choir. He starts dancing with them, but then mows them all down with a machine gun. He then moves as the camera turns, revealing a team of police swooping in. The dancing and singing seems to be a representation of the ideal status quo. However, much like the media’s typical reaction on a mass shooting, there is an immediate focus and discussion on it. Ultimately though, each instance of gun violence is quickly swept under the rug and everything seems to go back to normal, until the next burst of violence. Following the pattern of the song, this is the cycle of violence which keeps repeating.

One of the most interesting aspects of the performance is of the demeanor Gambino has throughout the video. Another example of the internal strife he is feeling, Gambino not only sharply contrasts his body movements from dancing to murder, but through facial expression. Throughout the video, Gambino shifts his facial features from showing joyful smiles to pained looks somewhere between rage and fear. All the while, he is often directly addressing the camera (and the viewer) with each moment of intense eye contact. The most frightening image is probably the final one, featuring Gambino running in terror from a crowd of Caucasian Americans. Conclusively, the video seems to suggest that Gambino, and by extension black society, live in fear of their white neighbors.

Some Lingering Questions

Childish Gambino is an artist with work that has often been soulful, thoughtful and sometimes heartbreaking. Most of his songs are established as being rather upbeat, but often had lyrics which suggest introspection and a truly personal reflection, often with a sad and melancholy tone. “This Is America” is probably his darkest piece yet and can now be counted among other songs such as Joyner Lucas’s “I’m Not Racist” as biting commentaries on the tough questions regarding race relations, classist divisions and violence 21st century culture. A few years ago, the documentary I Am Not Your Negro was released. Based on an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin, the film explores the history of racism in the United States and the struggles of the Civil Rights movement. It’s very possible Gambino probably took inspiration from films like this, incorporating the general mood of the public in through his vocals and accompanying imagery. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gambino doesn’t outright tell you what he thinks. With symbolic word choice and specific musical dynamics, Gambino seems to focus on gaining a strong emotional response with both his voice and images. The problems he discusses in “This Is America” can’t simply be solved in a short time. However, much like the wave of social media awareness over the last few years, songs like these force us to ask questions about how we can improve our society and start communicating with each other about these issues.

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54 Comments

Dope tune…and I thought hip hop, or at least the hip hop I use to like, died many moons ago. Great bloody tune.

The rise and rise of Donald Glover. One minute he is building a pillow fort with Abed in Community. Next thing you know, he’s creating TV shows, Childish Gambino is 229th most listened to artist on Spotify and he’s playing Lando Calrissian in Star Wars, having already blagged a Marvel cameo.

Kardashian levels of fame await.

Please… Why you have to finish that lovely post quoting the kardashians.

He’s a talented dude, loved his time in the great ‘Community’ but then got into his Childish Gambino stuff. He certainly looks like he’ll be the best thing in that new Han Solo movie. This new video is one that deserves multiple re-watches, so much stuff to pick up on… can’t say that too often these days.

An amazingly well made video. Horrific scenes and vile attitudes. Childish Gambino has shown us what America seems to be allowed to be.

Great video and music. I think it’s quite obvious what the song means. Being black in America is deadly.

Donald Glover is the most annoying man in the world. He’s good looking, he’s got a good body, he’s funny, he can sing, he can rap, he can act, he can do stand up comedy, he can write and direct his own show. And he seems like a good bloke.

Brilliantly creative video.

I’m surprised that this movie isn’t 30 seconds long, with him walking on set and then some police shooting him.

That would be a more accurate description of the US.

It’s unbelievable how layered the video actually is.

The people on the girders with their mouths taped filming it on their phones.

The man on a horse that goes past like General lee when they are rioting.

As a protest piece of visual art it’s stunning.

You can watch it several times, and still miss so much. Because Gambino is in the foreground, dancing away and distracting you from the harsh reality all around.

I’m not sure what I’m meant to be getting from the more violent sections of the video – the reduction of the murders of black people as entertainment? A comment on black on black violence? Or is it meant to shock my out of my middle class comfort zone?

Visually the video is just stunning, trying to keep track of so many layers and movements is nigh on impossible as the brain gets pummelled with message after message, so many parts where the brain makes you see what is not there, and the track itself just pushes the boundaries of rap – and what can be considered popular music. Mindblowing stuff,

The murders show what life is actually like on the streets right now for average black dudes in America. It isn’t meant to shock, just show what things are actually like. A black church congregation was gunned down a few years ago. Black people killed in pais, and groups every day. If you don’t show something in compact form, it will not be known by those who aren’t a part of the situation. I don’t see the murders as shocking, more than I open a page online to read about YET another shooting of a black guy. If I’m not shocked at that, I have no right to be shocked at this video.

Violence made this video. The real violence on the street that kills people ( FYI blacks not whites) every minute in America. Are you so sanitized and clean you don’t like to see this stuff? You couldn’t be black then, or black American. Because it is a daily, real life situation in America. ANd I guess the many layers of action you see are not trying to confound you. It’s clear what they are. This is life on the street. A black man being chased by a police care, someone running as he’s being accused of having a gun. It’s not hard to understand.

Trying to overanalyze it all means you have never been in this situation. As such, you need to watch it a few more hundred times to start feeling the feels that any black baby is going to feel in America right now. Chaos without reason , people running scared, panic in the streets, fear, stupidity. Just accept that this is the status quo.

I can’t say it was my cup of tea. I’m not really a rap guy (although I enjoy Donald Glover’s work as a comic actor), but it was an interesting piece of film-making.

He reminds me of a black Spiderman.

That was quite clever, but the theme left me with the feel bad factor.

Kanye is all talk, Donald Glover is the real thing.

a) it’s mesmerizing b) I think he’s been watching some Aphex Twin c) I think there’s a Chomsky/Adorno critique: you can’t be clean in a dirty world/we’re all complicit.

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis. I think more discussion should center around topics like this; I would like to hear more thoughts on how this work impact(s/ed) American society, or st least their diverse reactions.

Food for thought, right enough.

Clever and multi layered – there’s a huge amount going on behind him that it takes a few views to try and take it all in. It’s very bright to be able to pack that much opinion into a few minutes work.

I have no idea what all of its about, but if I had to dance on top of a car like that, I’d fall off and break an ankle.

Quite like it, though.

He’s absolutely brilliant.

I watched this twice and it meant stuff to me. Hope other people watch it and it means stuff for them…

Childish Gambino shows his sanity and humanism by showing and condemning random violence and madness. Kanye shows his ignorance and inhumanity by praising madness and racism.

It is interesting focus point based on moder song . However I tend to believe if you will look at artist like j cole , and compere his lyrics ideology In which he shows modern brutal truth of racism in his song like, neighbors or if you look at vic Mensa in his song “16 shots” he talk about brutality of today’s worlds . I enjoyed reading your article but if You would compare different artist from same music class it would be more philosophical and interesting to read.

I really appreciate how you can discover something new with each rewatch of this music video. For example, at 2:14 you can see a person jump and commit suicide in the background. Nobody runs to help or even seems to notice, which could be a commentary on how America deals with mental health issues. You also see throughout the video how guns are handled. After Gambino fires guns, someone comes with a cloth to carry it off with great care. Meanwhile, his murder victims are brutally dragged away.

I think the music video is pretty great. In the hyper-stimulated world we live in now, it’s much easier to view art with a sense of emotional detachment. We’ve become a bit numb to expressions of deep human feelings and thoughts. Childish Gambino was able to not only shock and surprise viewers with “This is America,” but I think he also made them care a little bit more because of it. It wasn’t just cheap tricks to sustain an audience’s attention. That’s quite refreshing.

I like the fact that this song and its accompanying video have got us all talking. There’s certainly a lot of layers that can pulled back from this video.

This new song is definitely something that’s rocked our nation’s culture. If anything, Childish Gambino is the poster child of a true artist’s take on the disparities and injustices prevalent in our society today. This work exemplifies his artistic skill and his ability to apply this skill in a way that sends a powerful message to his audience.

This Is America is incredibly powerful in lyrics, and the video presents itself almost like a visual satire… Similar to Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, it’s very obvious that something is wrong: the casual nature of massacre… as you mentioned, the nonchalant way that the video moves on with rhythmic dancing, and an almost caricature-like upbeat tone in Childish Gambino’s face as violence and brutality begins to coagulate in the background. I also find it interesting how the gun itself is handled. In both shootings, the gun is placed on a red cloth while the bodies fall, and no one attends to them. It is a vary powerful echo as to how America currently handles its gun violence; no matter how many people end up grieving, the topic returns to protecting the gun and its “rightful place” in the hands of the common people… despite the potential tragedies that play out over and over.

Donald Glover is an artist- he has something powerful to say and he puts it in the work.

Really interesting analysis! I remember watching this for the first time and was hoping I would find a detailed analysis such as this.

What is so fabulous about this music video is that there is room for another fifty articles analyzing this music video.

Great article!

Cool analysis! I’m so much more aware of the symbolism now that I watch the music video. It’s amazing how much thought was put into it.

This music video is an analytical wet dream.

It seems a common thread in hip hop is either talking about how the artist is trying to make their way in the world, or talking about the streets. What this song seems to be saying is both are traps, but there’s no alternative. If you “make it”, then you are like a big dog kenneled in a back yard. As long as you provide entertainment, you stay in the yard happily chained up, but if you get out of line they “wesley snipe your a%&” to quote K dot. The alternative is getting killed in the streets, or at least living in fear and anger at the thought that you might be killed. I think the song alone is good and it does what a lot of other thoughtful hip hop songs do, but with the added depth of the video it is a masterpiece

Really good job breaking it all down. Thanks a bunch. But, what’s that chick just sitting on a car in 3:19 represent? I genuinely wanna know.

It’s heartwarming to see Childish Gambino’s work generating so much engagement.

Symbols and lyrics within music change peoples lives.

This song has such a powerful message and started a great conversation- plus its a great song!

Great song, songwriter and analysis. Great job!

The special thing about this specific music video is that every time you watch it you discover something new. I thought I knew a lot about the video and the symbolism until I read through this article! The way he dances kind of distracts you from what’s happening in the back but the more you watch it the more you understand the plethora of messages he’s trying to convey. Overall an interesting read on an amazing video!

It is astounding how I seemed to have missed so much about the video at first glance.

Very informative article, it presented ideas that upon first watch I would not have initially picked up on. I love when artists create media which is thoughtful, insightful, and full of introspective messages.

This piece leaves me heartbroken. I cry every time I see/hear it. Childish Gambino is masterful in weaving visual, lyrical and musical elements together to illustrate the plight, and likewise the strength of people of color. His work shots straight to the heart. The first piece of art that comes to my mind, in comparison, is “Guernica,” by Pablo Picasso.

Art can be so powerful when it wakes people up!

I love Childish Gambino’s ability to turn a phrase. He begins a line and you have no idea where it’s going to go and that ability plays well here: the gun shot catches us off guard and is a jarring contrast to the almost whimsical start of the song.

I actually use your article in my Composition classes. My students write an essay analyzing song lyrics that speak to social justice issues. We start with a visual analysis of this video, and it’s a fun discussion to jumpstart their thinking.

I think this is a good analysis of what is an incredibly important song and music video. This is America is truly an intelligent and honest articulation of the systemic problems in urgent need of attention. I just stumbled upon this article today (in 2020), two years after the music video was released. After any media loses virality, the song’s spotlight has certainly dwindled after two years, it is easy to forget about art like this. It gets lost in the archives, no matter how poignant the message it sends. I’m definitely glad to have had Glover’s genius brought to my attention again. A very interesting read!

An interesting essay.

What about the sound bite of Bill Cosby’s voice as Fat Albert, saying “Hey!” right before Glover sings “I’m so fitted”? I’ve looked for references to that and haven’t found any.

This is going back to what rap/hip-hop was in the 80s.

Good analysis. One of my favorite songs. There is a lot to be said about the Gambino’s refusal to define his art leaving it open to speculation but there is a lot in the text that could be said to be “interesting” with regards to perceptions of black masculinities in America.

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An Expert’s Take on the Symbolism in Childish Gambino’s Viral ‘This Is America’ Video

D onald Glover released a new song and music video “This Is America” under his musical moniker Childish Gambino on Saturday Night Live this weekend — and the four-minute, single-take music video is laden with metaphors about race and gun violence in America.

The “This Is America” video, which has already racked up more than 20 million views on YouTube, reveals provocative imagery of the rapper as he guns down a choir at one point and dances while violence breaks out all around him. Childish Gambino/Glover ‘s decision to wear just a pair of gray pants without a shirt in the video, allows viewers to identify with “his humanness,” as he raps about the violent contradictions that come with being black in America, says Guthrie Ramsey, a professor of music history at the University of Pennsylvania.

Warning: Graphic violence

“The central message is about guns and violence in America and the fact that we deal with them and consume them as part of entertainment on one hand, and on the other hand, is a part of our national conversation,” Ramsey tells TIME. “You’re not supposed to feel as if this is the standard fare opulence of the music industry. It’s about a counter-narrative and it really leaves you with chills.”

Here’s Ramsay’s take on four key moments from “This Is America.”

The first gunshot

The opening moments of “This Is America” show a man strumming a guitar alone to choral sounds. Within the first minute, Gambino shoots the man, who has been tied up with a head cover. Childish Gambino hands the gun to another man, who safely wraps it in a red cloth as the obscured man is dragged away. The moment goes right into the first rapped chorus: “This is America / Don’t catch you slippin’ up.”

Ramsay says the timing — that this happens during the song’s move from choral tones to a trap sound — allows Gambino to straddle contradictions and also allows the viewer to identify with his humanness.

“He’s talking about the contradictions of trying to get money, the idea of being a black man in America,” Ramsey says. “It comes out of two different sound worlds. Part of the brilliance of the presentation is that you go from this happy major mode of choral singing that we associate with South African choral singing, and then after the first gunshot it moves right into the trap sound.”

The early moment shows, too, that Gambino “could be anyone,” according to Ramsey. “You have him almost unadorned, as if he were totally without all the accoutrements of stardom,” he says, noting that Gambino dances in neutral colored pants, dark skin and with textured hair. “It’s just him, and therefore, it could be us.”

Gambino dancing with schoolchildren amid violence

Gambino and a group of kids clad in school uniforms dance throughout much of the “This Is America” video, smiling through impeccable moves as violence erupts behind them. The moment could be open to numerous interpretations — for example, Ramsey says, the dancers could be there to distract viewers in the same way black art is used to distract people from real problems plaguing America. But, Ramsey says, it’s better to absorb the video as a whole because America itself is a country of “very strange juxtapositions.”

“Even though we think of popular culture a a space where we escape, he’s forcing us to understand that there’s actually nowhere to run,” he says. “We have to deal with the cultural violence that we have created and continue to sustain.”

The style of dancing by Gambino in the video also calls out the way we consume culture. Gambino samples at least 10 popular dance moves derived from hip hop and African moves, including the South African Gwara Gwara dance, according to Forbes . Ramsey says the use of so many famous dance moves show how ultra-popular pieces of culture lose their specificity over time as they become more ubiquitous.

“It’s really a commentary on how much violence and contradictions there are in the consuming of pop culture, particularly in the violent elements of it,” he says. “With all the conspicuous consumption that global capitalism inspires, part of what we are consuming is this appetite for violence.”

The gunned down choir

Toward the middle of the video, a choir sings enthusiastically in a happy tone before Gambino shoots them all. The massacre and its quickness recall the 2015 Charleston shooting in which white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine black people in a church basement , Ramsey says. The image and what it evokes shows how people struggle to reconcile with and separate different instances of violence, according to Ramsey. As we consume violence on all sorts of platforms, be it in the news, through music videos or television shows, it becomes difficult to absorb very real instances of mass murders.

“You can’t escape the violence,” Ramsey says. “But you’re being forced to separate how you feel about it in our digitized world. The virtual violence, the real violence, it’s all confused.”

Gambino running away in the closing moments

The final moments of the video show Gambino running, terrified, down a long dark hallway away from a group of people as Young Thug sings “You just a Black man in this world / You just a barcode, ayy.” Gambino’s sprint goes back to a long tradition of black Americans having to run to save their lives, according to Ramsey, who says one song dating back to slavery in the 19th century was called “Run N— Run.”

“A black person running for his or her life has just been a part of American culture dating back to slavery,” he says.

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‘This Is America’: A Powerful Social Commentary

Donald Glover, (aka Childish Gambino) has achieved astonishing success both as an actor and musician. This year alone he has won two Emmys, a Grammy and a feature role in Star Wars spin-off ‘Solo’. But it is his latest musical release, ‘This Is America’, which has really got people talking.

Gambino uses his platform to voice just some of the troubling social problems endured by black communities in Trump’s America. In just 4 minutes it references prevalent issues from gun violence to police brutality. Having racked up close to 150 million views on YouTube, ‘This Is America’ has proved to be a huge success, predominantly because of its power to provoke political conversation. With one video and one rap Gambino has highlighted many of the hardships within USA.

Directed by Hiro Murai, “This is America” juxtaposes both overt and subliminal political messages with huge visual impact. The video explicitly references topics such as America’s gun violence epidemic and the relentless massacring of black people. The video features the shooting of gospel singers, which is most likely a reference to the 2015 Charleston church shooting which killed nine African Americans.

What is most striking about the video is Gambino/Murai’s attention to detail.  It opens somewhat peculiarly, with Gambino’s movements awkward and unnatural. However, some have commented how the rapper’s posture resembles Jim Crow, a 19 th century stereotype constructed to justify contemporary Caucasian oppression of African Americans. Jim Crow was played a white man in blackface and dressed in rags to portray an ethnic depiction of poverty and inferiority. Gambino’s reference perhaps therefore suggests that he himself is a white man in disguise. As the only killer in the video, Gambino’s Jim Crow-style caricature could more broadly be interpreted as a comment on the racist persecution of black people.

The repetitiveness of the ‘This is America’ chorus could be a reflection […] of America’s power as a force dominating and oppressing black culture

The video also draws on different styles of dance, ranging from South Africa’s Gwara Gwara dance to BlockBoy JB’s shoot dance. By using popularised moves, the video highlights the issue of people enjoying black culture without actually acknowledging the suffering which produces it such as systematic racism and police brutality. Amidst scenes of chaos, Gambino and several schoolchildren continue dancing as if nothing has occurred.

Although this upbeat dancing seems misaligned with the explicitly dark themes, there are several different interpretations. For one, the dancing in the foreground distracts the viewer from the chaos unfolding in the background. The dancing is therefore a deflection from the brutal realities of America, and more broadly illustrates society’s tendency to selectively choose aspects of black culture. Alternatively, dance here could be a form of escapism, as the lack of interaction between the dancing and violence is an attempt to avoid what is going on and instead retain a sense of false normality. The young ages of the dancers, all dressed in school uniform, is also striking. This suggests child-like naivety or ignorance to what is unfolding around them, or rather the young age at which black children are immersed into such a hostile and brutal world.

Another political message can also be seen through the treatment of the guns. Once fired, all the guns are removed in a red cloth before the massacred bodies are taken away suggesting an emphasis on concealment. Here Gambino highlights America’s shameful moral compass, as weapons are valued over human lives. The graphic way in which they are massacred further emphasises this immorality, losing all dignity when hurriedly dragged away.

Murai juxtaposes chaos with the passivity of bystanders who are occupied on their phones. This can be read as a subliminal dig at social media. More specifically, this offers a commentary on our ability to be so distracted by social media that we cannot see what is happening in reality, and the way in which social media can desensitise us. For example, if news of terrorism and police brutality are appearing frequently on a social media feed, it is easy to become accustomed to this and desensitised to the shock of the event.

By juxtaposing the title of the song with the troubling issues explored, it is suggested that the two are deeply intertwined

Similarly, if such news is broadcast amidst pictures of friends and so on, one may not think much of what is happening. By embedding news items in these social media platforms, it normalises them to an extent. However, somewhat ironically, it is through the social media platform of YouTube that this video is accessed and its political message promoted.

The power of the visuals conveys dark themes, and clearly if you isolate the music from the video these political nuances will be missed. That said, its fundamental political message is also apparent in Gambino’s use of music. The track features backing vocals by American rappers Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy, 21 Savage and Quavo, and draws on a number of musical styles. The opening creates a fairly upbeat atmosphere, using acapella singing followed by Spanish-inspired guitar playing. The lyrics ‘We just wanna party’, played over a light drum beat, further adds to the relaxed musical feel. This is abruptly shut down after the first gunshot, at which point Gambino declares ‘This is America’. Suddenly, the music becomes darker and heavier. The syncretic melodies, trap cadences, and repeated bass note creates a brooding and unsettling atmosphere. The repetitiveness of the ‘This is America’ chorus could be interpreted not only as the relentlessness of what is going on in the US, but also America’s power as a force dominating and oppressing black culture.

Whilst ‘This Is America’ seems to be have more of visual impact than a musical one, it is undeniably a track with political resonance. By juxtaposing the title of the song with the troubling issues explored, it is suggested that the two are deeply intertwined. Issues of police brutality and gun violence are presented as vital components of America’s past and current identity, offering a powerful social commentary. For Childish Gambino, as is the case for many, this is the real America.

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This is America: an Analysis of Childish Gambino’s Song

This essay about “This Is America” by Childish Gambino explores the song’s intricate critique of American society, focusing on themes like race, violence, and media distraction. It highlights how the song juxtaposes cheerful melodies with dark themes to reflect the shocking nature of gun violence and the commodification of African American culture. The essay examines the symbolism of dance as both a cultural expression and a metaphor for distraction from societal issues. It also addresses the portrayal of gun violence and police brutality in the lyrics, emphasizing the reverence for guns over human life and the racial biases that lead to the unjustified killing of African Americans. Through its analysis, the essay presents “This Is America” as a powerful commentary on the contradictions within American society, urging a reflection on the nation’s identity and the need for change.

How it works

Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” exploded onto the music scene, capturing the attention of audiences worldwide with its powerful lyrics and provocative video. At its core, the song is a multifaceted critique of contemporary American society, tackling themes of race, violence, and distraction within the media landscape. This essay seeks to unpack the layers of meaning embedded in the lyrics and accompanying visuals, exploring how they reflect and comment on the complexities of American life today.

The song opens with a cheerful, almost tranquil melody, setting a stage that quickly shifts to a darker, more intense rhythm.

This abrupt transition mirrors the sudden and often shocking nature of violence in America, particularly gun violence. The recurring phrase “This is America” serves as a refrain throughout the song, a reminder that the scenes depicted are not isolated incidents but rather reflective of the country’s broader social and cultural dynamics.

One of the most striking aspects of the song’s lyrics is the juxtaposition of dance and violence. Gambino uses dance both as a symbol of African American cultural expression and as a metaphor for distraction – a way of diverting attention from the more sinister aspects of American society. The lyrics “Don’t catch you slippin’ now / Look what I’m whippin’ now” can be interpreted as a commentary on the way sensationalism and consumer culture overshadow critical issues, such as racial discrimination and gun violence.

The refrain “This is America” is interspersed with references to gun violence and its normalization within American society. After each act of violence in the music video, the weapons are carefully handled with cloth, suggesting a reverence for guns over human life. This imagery, coupled with the lyrics, critiques the gun control debate and the cyclical nature of violence and outrage in the media.

Moreover, “This Is America” delves into the African American experience, highlighting the duality of living in a country that celebrates black culture through entertainment and music while simultaneously grappling with systemic racism and inequality. The lyrics “We just wanna party / Party just for you / We just want the money / Money just for you” reflect the commodification of black culture and the exploitation of black artists in the entertainment industry.

Throughout the song, Gambino addresses the issue of police brutality with lines like “This is a celly / That’s a tool” – a reference to the killings of African Americans by police officers, often justified by claims that the victims were armed. This line, in particular, is a chilling reminder of how everyday objects in the hands of African Americans can be perceived as threats, underscoring the deep-seated racial biases that permeate American society.

In conclusion, “This Is America” is a powerful artistic expression that challenges listeners and viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about American society. Through its lyrics and visuals, the song paints a portrait of a nation grappling with its identity, caught between the celebration of culture and the perpetuation of violence and inequality. Childish Gambino’s masterpiece urges us to reflect on the America we live in, the America we contribute to, and ultimately, the America we envision for the future. It is a call to awareness, a demand for change, and a reminder that the realities depicted are not just lyrics in a song but the lived experiences of many.

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‘This Is America’: strengths and paradoxes of a critique of violence

by Luis Velasco-Pufleau · Published 01/08/2018 · Updated 30/09/2021

After it was released on 5 May 2018, the music video by Donald Glover (alias Childish Gambino ) ‘ This Is America ,’ quickly went viral. It unleashed passionate debates across both social networks and traditional media. The video generated hundreds of discussions in newspaper articles, videos and blog posts, echoing thousands of tweets, images and comments posted on several social media. Aside from some texts that analyze the political dimension of the video by putting them in the wider context of Donald Glover’s artistic career , the majority of articles and videos promise to reveal the symbolism , references , “ hidden meanings ” or “ theories ” behind ‘This Is America’. These explanations, which consist of deciphering some of the historical or perceived references in the video’s images and words, are largely based on comments posted on Twitter or in other articles across the Internet.

Childish Gambino’s exaggerated gestures and movements, his unassailable and unpredictable body, seem to be a cry of anger against the structural violence suffered by African-American citizens. The video clip is a strong criticism of gun worship in the United States, and for a few people Donald Glover’s virtuoso work renews the American tradition of protest songs . However his criticism of consumer society and the entertainment industry seems less obvious. If ‘This Is America’ was seen over two hundred million times on YouTube in three weeks, it also means tens of millions of online ads viewed by the same people and millions of dollars in advertising revenue. Paradoxically, the vast majority of articles on ‘This Is America’ are silent on Donald Glover’s activities in the entertainment industry and the political consequences of his participation in films produced by studios owned by the Walt Disney Company. The commodification of Glover’s body asks the fundamental question: to whom do our bodies belong? This post examines some of the strengths and paradoxes of ‘This Is America’, a provocative piece of art.

Aesthetic distance and multiplicity of interpretations

The richness and symbolic density of ‘This Is America’ encourage multiple interpretations, most of them with a strong political content: criticism of the violence generated by social injustice and racial discrimination ; condemnation of the cult of arms in the United States; denunciation of the shameful legacy of segregationist laws . 1 The execution of a black man, seated and with a cloth bag over his head, by a bullet in the back of his head could be seen as the denunciation of the armed violence in the United States on African-American citizens. Gambino’s gospel choir shooting could be a reference to the shootings perpetrated in the United States in a Methodist church in 2015 and in a Baptist church in 2017 . The various dances performed by Childish Gambino accompanied by black girls and boys dressed in school uniforms would aim to divert our attention away from the violence that takes place in the background, similarly mass consumerism and social networks distract us from the violence endured by our fellow citizens. Gambino’s exaggerated movements and postures could be a reference to the racialized behaviour of the character of Jim Crow, whose name was given to laws legitimizing racial segregation in the southern states of the United States from the late 19th century until the mid-1960s. The knight who crosses the back of the post-industrial scene of the video on a white horse could be one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Finally, the nightmarish chase at the end of the video could refer to the horror movie Get out .

Donald Glover refuses to provide the media with a ready-made explanation of the meaning of his work. He insists that it is the viewers who must form their own opinion and, therefore, that all aesthetic and political readings are valid. In doing this, Glover introduces what the philosopher Jacques Rancière called the ‘aesthetic distance’, a form of art effectiveness based on “the suspension of every determinate relation correlating the production of art forms and a specific social function.” 2 This assumed polysemy of the work allows its appropriation and mobilization by various actors in the political field in order to break the dominant consensus. According to Rancière, this makes it possible to create a political community where “the excluded is a conflictual actor […] carrying a right not yet recognized or witnessing an injustice in the existing state of right.” 3

Armed violence and sonic spaces

When watching ‘This Is America,’ the viewer is surprised by the abrupt changes in the attitude of Childish Gambino, the character played by Donald Glover, which precede the performance of the African American guitarist and then the members of the church choir. The contrast between Gambino’s emotions and gestures before the executions and the moments of the act is brutal. Moreover, these outbreaks of armed violence seem arbitrary and inexplicable in the context of the actions shown to us. They are all the more incomprehensible as the people executed participated in the smooth running of a collective musical action. Before they were shot to death they were part of the music.

Structurally and narratively, the moments of the performances mark the transition between lyrical sections, with voice-overs and/or the choir singing and dancing, with sections where Childish Gambino begins rapping in the first person with the phrase “This is America”. The perception we have of an acceleration of things happening in video is subtly driven by the mixing of two heterogeneous sonic spaces within the video clip. On the one hand there is the song itself: it was recorded, mixed and mastered in the studio (so the video is not a live recording of the song). On the other hand are the sounds that seem to come from the space where the video is filmed: screams, sounds of riots. The postindustrial hangar is first shown empty, then gradually fills up with people facing the police symbolized by a car, people running or dancing and even an ‘apocalyptic’ white horse.

Sonogram of ‘This Is America’: structure and narrative elements

Our attention is constantly held by the contrasts between the sections, the unpredictability of the narration and the growing presence of the hangar’s sonic space. Then suddenly, there is a 15-second break, when Childish Gambino shoots an imaginary weapon at an off-field target. We hear the sounds of people running and screaming, before he lights what appears to be a cannabis joint. Donald Glover gives us clues about this gesture in a recent interview published in The New Yorker, where he makes the link between the trauma caused by the violence suffered by African Americans and their use of cannabis, stating that the black characters of his TV series Atlanta “aren’t smoking weed all the time because it’s cool but because they have P.T.S.D .—every black person does.” 4

The politics of the black body and structural violence

The silence of the long 15-second break sets in motion a transition that leads us to another space, a nightmarish reality where Gambino is pursued by a crowd of people who probably want him dead. He runs for his life while the voice-over sings “You just a black man in this world, You just a barcode, You just a black man in this world…”

Throughout the video we are caught up in the gestures and movements of the bodies dancing in the foreground as well as the bodies moving, struggling and shouting in the background. They are black bodies that denounce through their gestures the historical violence to which they have been subjected, the null value of their lives in the face of firearms that take their existence away in a second. Childish Gambino’s body does not leave us indifferent, it seduces, surprises, frightens. He recalls the price to pay for centuries of oppression, this coming only a few days after rapper Kanye West , a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, declared that 400 years of slavery seemed to him to be a choice for those who had suffered it. As Ta-Nehisi Coates says, “America understands itself as God’s handiwork, but the black body is the clearest evidence that America is the work of men.” 5

On the paradoxes of ‘This is America’: to whom do our bodies belong?

Just as Donald Glover uses his body to denounce gun violence, the confusion of genres and contradictions of the entertainment industry are also manifestly embodied in his body and in the use that the Walt Disney Company can make of him. Glover asserts: “I’m scanned into ‘Star Wars’ now, my face and body.” He is aware of the consequences of Walt Disney owning the image of his body, not only for the purpose of marketing Star Wars products but also for producing other films based on his digital image. “Who’s to say that at some point they won’t take that scan and say, ‘Let’s make another movie with Donald. He’s been dead for fifteen years, but we can do whatever we want with him’.” 6 Even dead, Glover’s body can generate capital for his owners. As Jason Stanyek and Benjamin Piekut asserted, “in late capitalism, the dead are highly productive.” 7

The contrast on how Donald Glover uses his body in this Star Wars ad and in ‘This Is America’ is striking. He embodies the paradoxes inherent in the neoliberal chaos of the United States, this ‘America’ of which he speaks. The considerable impact of ‘This Is America’ should not hide the issues raised by its commercial dimension and the appropriation of this work by the entertainment industry and web giants. Even if the mix of genres assumed by its author could be considered as a strategy of circumvention or symbolic inversion, ‘This Is America’ asks the question: to whom do our bodies belong? This question is fundamental because it is closely linked both to slavery – the power to dispose and destroy bodies – and to the consumerist enslavement produced by our neoliberal societies of control.

• According to the recent report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on his mission to the United States of America, « the United States remains a chronically segregated society. Blacks are 2.5 times more likely than Whites to be living in poverty, their infant mortality rate is 2.3 times that of Whites, their unemployment rate is more than double that for Whites, they typically earn only 82.5 cents for every dollar earned by a White counterpart, their household earnings are on average well under two thirds of those of their White equivalents, and their incarceration rates are 6.4 times higher than those of Whites. These shameful statistics can only be explained by long-standing structural discrimination on the basis of race, reflecting the enduring legacy of slavery », Philip Alston, ‘ Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights on His Mission to the United States of America ’ (United Nations Human Rights Council, 4 May 2018), 14–15. [ ↩ ]
• Jacques Rancière, ‘The Paradoxes of Political Art’, in Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics , trans. Steven Corcoran (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), 138. [ ↩ ]
• Jacques Rancière, ‘The Ethical Turn of Aesthetics and Politics’, in Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics , trans. Steven Corcoran (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), 189. [ ↩ ]
• Tad Friend, ‘ Donald Glover Can’t Save You ’, The New Yorker , 26 February 2018. [ ↩ ]
• Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015), 12. [ ↩ ]
• Friend, ‘ Donald Glover Can’t Save You ’. [ ↩ ]
• Jason Stanyek and Benjamin Piekut, ‘Deadness: Technologies of the Intermundane’, TDR/The Drama Review 54, no. 1 (March 2010): 14. https://doi.org/10.1162/dram.2010.54.1.14 [ ↩ ]

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows: Luis Velasco-Pufleau (August 1, 2018). ‘This Is America’: strengths and paradoxes of a critique of violence. Music, Sound and Conflict . Retrieved November 14, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.58079/rnxf

Tags: democracy dissensus listening music embodiment politics Rancière slavery social justice

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Music, Sound & Conflict

A Racial Analysis of Childish Gambino's "This is America"

The choir scene does not only mean what you think it does..

Posted May 9, 2018 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

Childish Gambino's This is America offers a welcome reprieve from the most recent Kanye controversy , but Donald Glover's (the artist's real name) new song and video are themselves provocative, inspiring (requiring perhaps) multiple commentaries on their meaning.

Rather than writing an analysis of the whole video, as others have done, I want to instead do a deeper dive into one small part: the scene with the choir. I do so in the hope that understanding the nuances of this scene will help us better understand the video as a whole. If you happen to be one of the few who hasn't yet seen the video, you can find it below.

Other commentators (e.g., this NPR story , this Time article , this Atlantic piece ) have generally focused on how the choir scene recalls the 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. This seems likely. Dylann Roof, a self-proclaimed white supremacist who was apparently radicalized by the shooting of Trayvon Martin and reports of so-called “black on white crime ,” killed nine black people during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In This is America , ten members of the choir are gunned down, not nine, but Roof actually hit ten and one survived.

Even so, the church scene is not only about what happened in Charleston. This part of the video, like the earlier portion, intended to juxtapose happy and positive aspects of African American culture (in this case the Black church) with the violence that surrounds and impacts the black community. Roof and other white supremacists may be part of this violence, but the threat is more pervasive and more insidious.

Rather than focusing on one tragic incident, I believe this scene, like the entire video, is intentionally ambiguous in order to invite a variety of different interpretations. Consider, for example, three very different interpretations, among many other possibilities.

• It is a criticism of the black church for focusing on materialism ("get your money, Black man") while the community is being ravaged.
• It is a criticism of black men (if you interpret Glover's character as a representation of black men, which I personally do not) whose violence fails to adequately discriminate between those who would do them harm and those who try to lead righteous lives, including in their own communities.
• It is a criticism of America (if you interpret Glover's character as a representation of America, as I do) for not valuing black lives, even when those lives are innocent and righteous, as represented by their participation in the church choir.

So, which of these, if any, are right? That is, which of these meanings did Glover intend to convey? It's tempting to ask this question, and then try to answer it, but I think it's the wrong question. As is always the case with ambiguous stimuli, what the viewer or reader thinks is happening has much more to do with their life experiences and beliefs than with the stimulus itself.

There is no point in asking what Glover intended the scene to mean. If he intended to present an unambiguous narrative, he would have done so. The ambiguous symbols suggest that he wanted multiple interpretations. Perhaps he wanted people to do some personal reflection on the relationship between religion and violence. Perhaps he wanted to invite dialogue. Maybe he just wanted people to watch his video over and over in order to figure it out. Either way, there is no one right answer here. The question is not what is it that Glover intended but rather what is it that the viewer takes from it.

There is, however, some context – the name of the song, the lyrics, the rest of the video – that suggests some interpretations might be more accurate and truthful than others.

This is America . That this is a commentary on the United States might seem obvious to Americans (isn't everything always about us?), but the music has South African influences and the clothing seems culturally ambiguous. The title provides important information.

Black men are the focus. The word "Black" appears as a racial signifier 28 times in the song. All but one of those times it appears as "Black men." If this seems a tad overdone, consider how common it still is for white Americans to assert that race isn't important and that we should all focus on our shared humanity, even as black men and women continue to experience disproportional access to education , health care , and justice .

Glover is America. In the church scene, just as in the earlier scenes, Glover is self-assured and brash. He kills multiple people (including the choir) and afterward continues to dance and mug for the camera, seemingly without a care in the world.

On a literal level, it is hard to make sense of this juxtaposition of violence and dance. But as I mentioned in #3 above, I think Glover's character is intended as a representation of America. As such, it is not Glover (or Black men) doing the killing. It is not even white men. Rather, it is the country itself. It is America, with its racist history and contemporary disinterest in black lives, that takes the lives of black people, even innocent, church-going black people, and continues to smile and dance as though the violence was unworthy of notice.

Yes, some of this violence takes the form of self-identified white supremacists but other violence is systemic — racially biased school discipline, racially segregated low-income housing that isolates those living in poverty, subcultures that glorify guns and value them more than people. This systemic violence can be just as deadly. I think it's part of Glover's commentary.

What does the church scene mean? To me, it is all of the following:

• It is a criticism of America for not valuing black lives, even when those lives are innocent, as represented by the church choir.
• It is a criticism of the pro-gun lobby for making guns so accessible that there is no place that black people are safe, not even a church.
• It is an observation that violence is unpredictable. A man entering a church with hardly any clothes could be looking for shelter or for God. But he could just as easily be looking for vengeance.
• It is an observation (criticism?) that Americans seem content to consume popular culture (as represented by the choir and his own dancing) while people (specifically black people) around them are getting killed.

Again, I don't assume the above is definitive. Earlier, I wrote that what the viewer or reader thinks is happening has much more to do with their life experiences and beliefs than with the stimulus itself. I am not immune from this tendency. As readers of this blog know, much of my writing and community work focus on racial justice and restorative responses to acts of injustice. Like others, I am interpreting this work of art through my own personal filter. As such, it is not the truth but rather my personal truth.

There is room for other truths.

There always is with art.

Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D., teaches in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He teaches, studies, and writes about race relations, conflict, and restorative justice.

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