this is america
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‘This Is America’ Is the No. 1 Song in America
Donald Glover’s “This Is America” was inescapable last week—whether it was the video itself (it’s been viewed over 109 million times since it debuted on May 6) or in the public discourse around the video (and, by extension, Glover, aka Childish Gambino, himself). Now “This Is America” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot…
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Judge of Characters: Black Men, White Wives … This Is America
Donald Glover basically broke the internet when he released his video for “This Is America,” a disturbing visual with enough interpretable art all up and through it. Even the biggest art intellectual likely needed to go back and watch it 47 times. I know I did. But that’s a testament to good art, right? You…
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Dear Black Male Nerds: Maybe There’s Another Reason the Popular Black Girls in High School Rejected You
By now you have watched and likely discussed Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) and his new video, “This Is America.” Whether you love it or hate it, it’s forcing a discussion about the state of black America and making many (white) people uncomfortable in the process. To be sure, I find the dancing more amusing…
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Black Genius: A Privilege Afforded Only to Straight Black Men
This. Is. America. Whether you love it or hate it or are somewhere in between, Donald Glover’s newest music video, juxtaposing black joy and pain, has folks thinking. Somewhere in between “This is a masterpiece” and “This is blasphemy” are screams from some of the largest (social) media platforms throwing out that ever trite and…
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Donald Glover’s ‘This Is America’ Explained by 2 People Who Don’t Pretend to Understand It
Since Donald Glover/Childish Gambino released the awe-inspiring video for his song “This Is America,” the internet has been filled with people explaining the symbolism of the imagery, subtext and subtle references contained in the music video. Those people don’t know shit. Instead of overwhelming you with bullshit phrases gleaned from an art-appreciation class, we decided…
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Making Donald Glover the ‘Anti-Kanye’ Is Gross and Wrong and Will Backfire, so Please Don’t
I spent Saturday evening in a room full of black people, celebrating the birthday of a friend and the genius possessed by two people who were not in that room: LeBron James and Donald Glover. The first part of our night was devoted to the second half of the Cleveland Cavaliers game, and as we…