Analysing 'This is America' by Childish Gambino

 Childish Gambino is the musical stage name of the actor, singer, comedian, writer and producer Donald Glover. 

As an actor he features in many mainstream Hollywood Movies including 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' as well as the voice in the Lion King remake. Glover is also know for his successful TV work in the US and is a double Emmy and double Golden Globe winner for 'Atlanta' which he starred in. 

Gambino vs Elvis

There are actually similarities between the two artists due to the fact that they both appreciate the benifits of wide exposure. They have both features in many TV shows and Hollywood films 

Background to the track

The song was released in the US on 5th May, 2018 to coincide with Donald Glover hosting 'saturday night live' one of Americas biggest TV shows. 

In terms of genre the song is hip hop with deliberate elements of Afrobeat. 

The songs release was not previously announced but instead appeared online while Glover was live on Tv with his SNL performance. 

Textual Analysis of the music video

A lot of major problems are being brought up including gun ownership, race and religious attacks

If you analyse his movement, it represents Jim Crowe 

When you look at the lyrics closely every line has its own reference or meaning.  The whole song is a general dig at society and features many lines that reference these things. The first major reference is about how all people want to do is party and expect money to just fall onto their laps. the verse repeats "you just wanna party"

Another major feature throughout the entirety of the video is kids. At the start of the video when he shoots the man the kid comes and takes the gun from him and then two more kids come and drag the body away. More kids then come in with smiles on their faces and join in with the dancing. They continue dancing even with the dodgy looting and drugs going on in the background. He then walks into into another room with the African singers and picks up a gun and shoots them all. This is a reference to the Church attacks (possibly in particular the Charleston church attack). A kid takes the gun off him again. He then changes room again and kids start dancing around him again. The dances throughout are all viral dances and act as a distraction as what you should be focusing on which is the message throughout the song. In the background there is always something going on such as crimes or at one point even a hooded man on a horse which could reference the KKK.