There definitely should be.
Yep, well stated.
I thought the performance of the song on SNL this past weekend was fantastic (link again). I was really in to Gambino’s album *Culdesac *but haven’t been into his stuff since. I am big into Atlanta, tho. Anyway, the songs on SNL brought me back in and I think the video adds a lot to the song.
I know, me either. I thought that album really was trying too hard. I feel like this song nailed it.
I think this can… But it’s commenting on a specific bit of culture. You have to understand the culture its commenting on to really get it. Some of that is American pop culture right now. That’s not the only thing, but that’s the bit that seems to be the barrier for most people.
If you don’t get the context, that’s OK, it’s not talking to you. There are other things that are interesting about the song. (I also like the gospel/hip hop juxtaposition for example)
It’s a good video. I think the internet glomming on to it is a direct reaction to Kanye and his ‘slavery was a choice’ bullshit. Not that Glover did it to diss Kanye but that the people Kanye outraged with his idiocy are elevating this video in a “SEE?!!! This is how a hip hop genius should act, you crazy, stupid motherfucker!”
Also, the Jim Crow stance while shooting the black guy really is friggin genius.
This is the type of genius Kanye wishes he was.
Sadly, Kanye is this kind of genius. He’s just also all kinds of fucked up.
After he and TI did their most recent track together TI gave and interview where he was saying that Kanye is so removed from reality that while he was supporting Trump he hadn’t even heard about the travel ban. This was like a week ago. He just started watching the news in the last week.
Kanye makes me sad. Like mid 90s Michael Jackson sad.
But I think he is still capable of great art. His Famous music video is, I think, a very powerful reflection on America’s obsession with fame.
I’m not into this genre enough to make any real critique of this song, but I will say that his performance on SNL was the first time since DVR was invented that I’ve watched the whole musical guest performance and not just skipped ahead to Weekend Update.
Ta-Nehisi Coates made the same comparison between West and Jackson:
Eh, I actually quite like it. I don’t know much about trap, but this sounds pretty good to me. I actually would call the “This is America” repeating refrain the hook of the song, or at least one of the hooks. I find it strangely earwormy.
Hadn’t seen this thread and was completely unfamiliar with his music (I stopped listening to most new music in the 90s). But I kept seeing headlines about the video, so I finally watched.
It has been a long time, if ever, that I sat back in silence after watching a music video and just thought. I visited the Museum of African American History and Culture a couple of weeks ago, and after spending some hours in the downstairs portion, I just thought, too. The motivation was basically the same. “I am well aware that this happened / is happening, but having it told and illustrated so well and in my face like that…wow.”
I have no idea if I’ll be a Childish Gambino fan going forward. But this song/video deserves the attention it is receiving, in my opinion. And the Buzzfeed article referenced some things that I definitely missed. I’m not ready to go back and rewatch the video yet, but I will.
I feel like this was a big part of his choice. Because the subject matter is (should be) jarring and unpleasant the beat needs to match that.
Like others in this thread have stated - after watching this i just sat and thought for a little while which, when it comes to current music, is a very rare thing.
The SNL version was the one I saw, and I thought it was a complete trip.
That is a seriously impressive bit of art, thanks for the pointer. I’m going to have to watch that one a bunch of times, there’s SO much going on!
I’m so hyped by this video.
This will either cement my cred or belie it, but I had no idea that Childish Gambino was Donald Glover when I saw the video. I just saw it as the smartest, coolest, grooviest piece of art I’ve seen in a dog’s age. After I watched the video a dozen times, I did the three minutes of research required to discover what an idiot I am. I always enjoyed Glover in his acting roles, but this (and some of his other music I’ve tripped across on YouTube) has sent me into full-on fandom.
A comment I read on Twitter: “Donald Glover is actually doing what Kanye West thinks he’s doing.”
I don’t keep up with new music, but was very struck by this. Probably the video and music together, rather than the music alone–but both are very impressive. I find images from both the video and the SNL performance recurring to my mind at various times.
Glover is a great talent, without a doubt.
So there is a lot of symbolism in the video. Was the movie solely about black culture or did it have a wider message about America as a whole? I guess that part confused me.
There are lots of references to Dylan roof, Jim Crow, the confederacy, shucking and jiving, valuing guns over human life.
I guess I’m confused as to whether the video is about America as a whole or more a story about being black in America.
Also what did all the old cars represent?
I think yes and yes and yes and yes (e.g. it was about all of the above). As for the old cars, perhaps it was a twist on the genre’s typical reverence of half-million dollar supercars, instead showing the kinds of cars that many or most Americans (and black Americans in particular) drive.