“This is America” is a song released in 2018 by Childish Gambino featuring Young Thug, Blocboy JB, 21 Savage, Slim Jxmmi, and Quavo. It is a hip-hop song that conveys a commentary on American culture and how black lives are treated. This song strikes me as wild because of its underlying message of how the country often operates in a carefree nature oblivious to the struggles of its black population. The song starts off with a smooth, seemingly carefree chorus which abruptly ends with the sound of a gunshot. The proceeding beat is more aggressive and bass-heavy for some time before returning to a smooth chorus. The shifts in tune portray the manner in which the nation seems to quickly return to a less serious, unconcerned nature following scenes of violence in which black lives are harmed. The lyrics “Guns in my area… I got the strap… I gotta carry ‘em” describe the dangers that black people face living in their communities, often necessitating the ownership of a gun to survive. It struck me as wild to hear Childish Gambino’s depiction of what life can be like for many African Americans as it is a stark contrast to the relative safety I and many Americans experience in our communities. Gambino also includes the lines “Police be trippin’ now… Yeah, this is America.” He is referencing police brutality and how it has become emblematic of the state of the country. I found this line to be wild as Gambino is making a bold statement about how flawed the identity of the country is. Overall, I believe this song to be “wild” as it boldly drives home a strong message about the flawed nature of the country.
-Avinash K
Great song choice! This song is definitely wild and the music video might be even wilder. I love how you touched on so many individual-specific lines such as “police be trippin now” and “guns in my area.” It really does show the affect that police brutality and overall violence has on African-Americans in society today.
This is a great song for this topic. The lyrics you included like “guns in my area… I gotta carry ’em” and the music video itself portray the heartbreaking, wild true of America. I think this song is a sad realization of what America has become. Great job!
I love this song, and while I didn’t originally think of it as being “wild,” I agree now that it is, especially to one that has never experienced the hardships of the black community. I do remember that, while watching the music video for the first time, I thought that the video was wild in what they were portraying based on the message of the song and fitting it all into this large warehouse-type location while he passes through all of the different scenarios.
I totally forgot about this song until this post and I agree, this is a wild song! Not just the lyrics, but the imagery in the music video depicts a lot of shocking acts of violence. So when you overlap the video with the music it creates a shock factor for the viewer which make the song wild.
This song a great choice in relation to wild. Donald Glover wrote a song with such a message of a monumental problem in a way which would make people turn heads and actually start to question things. It wild because although musicians carry these large fanbases and audiences a lot of them do not use those platforms to address prominent issues in society so for Gambino to do this, and do it so extravagantly was defiantly wild because it was not being done to that level prior to This Is America.