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  • Jacques: To fully grasp Childish Gambino's “This Is America,” you have to watch the music video more than once.

  • And in searching for symbolism, you might miss a major part - the lyrics.

  • Gambino's opening upbeat bars dramatically shift to a darker tone

  • and catch the listener off guard.

  • When you juxtapose these lyrics with the video featuring him dancing with a group of kids

  • amidst anarchy or handing off his weapons carefully after he's just shot someone,

  • it seems like he's targeting racism and America's gun problem at the same time.

  • The verse's "celly" and "tool" mentions may be a nod to Stephon Clark,

  • who was killed by Sacramento police in 2018.

  • Lester Holt: And we are now getting our first look at that shooting.

  • Police apparently thinking he was holding a gun, now say it was a cellphone.

  • Jacques: In addition to referencing Florida rapper Kodak Black, 'kodak' could also note how

  • some kids are filming the dancing on their cell phone cameras.

  • This may symbolize the commodification of stereotypical black culture,

  • which Gambino's later bars seem to allude to.

  • Gambino's dance moves, choreographed by Sherrie Silver, seem to be an intentional

  • distraction from the violence he is committing and the madness around him.

  • As The New Yorker's Doreen St. Felix put it,

  • This is what it's like... to be black in Americaat any given time,

  • vulnerable to joy or to destruction.

  • And as we're focused on his dancing, Gambino pulls the rug out from under us.

  • Gambino's words paired with his violence in the video illustrate the uncomfortable

  • part of being black in America, where you can be arrested or killed at any moment.

  • Glover's creative director told WYNC that they sought to contextualize the black experience.

  • Ibra Ake: This is how we would like to dance but we have to be aware of the danger

  • and the politics of how we're perceived and the implications of history of how we were treated.

  • Jacques: As the video ends we see Childish running down a dark hallway which could be evoking

  • Jordan Peele's 'Get Out.'

  • It could also be a nod to the relationship between black art and suffering

  • and how sometimes our creative representation can be twisted into stereotypes that can be used against us.

  • Donald Glover: I just wanted to make, you know, a good song and, like,

  • something that people could play on Fourth of July.

  • Jacques: We all live in one America - but exist in different spaces of the red, white and blue.

  • Donald discussed his aim to depict this on his show 'Atlanta,' during an interview with the New Yorker, saying quote,

  • I don't even want [white people] laughing if they're laughing at the caged animal

  • in the zoo

  • I want them to really experience racism, to really feel what it's like to be black in America.

  • I'm Jacques Morel with Genius News, bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the music.

  • Peace!

Jacques: To fully grasp Childish Gambino's “This Is America,” you have to watch the music video more than once.

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