This Is America (song)
"This Is America" is a song by American rapper Childish Gambino. Written and produced by Gambino and Ludwig Göransson, with additional writing credits going to American rapper Young Thug,[5] it was released on May 6, 2018 at the same time that Gambino was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live. The song features background vocals from Young Thug alongside fellow American rappers Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, BlocBoy JB, Quavo of Migos, and Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage.[6][7] The lyrics and accompanying music video, reflecting the core of the Black Lives Matter movement, confront issues of ongoing systemic racism, including prejudice, racial violence, the ghetto, and law enforcement in the United States, as well as the wider issues of mass shootings and gun violence in the United States. Originally, Gambino intended it to be a diss record towards fellow rapper Drake.[8]
This article is about the 2018 Childish Gambino song. For other uses, see This Is America (disambiguation)."This Is America"
The song's accompanying music video was directed by filmmaker Hiro Murai, a frequent Gambino collaborator.[9][10] "This Is America" became the 31st song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming both Gambino's first number one and top ten single in the country. It has also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video. This made Gambino the first hip-hop artist to win Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and "This Is America" the first rap song to win these awards.[11]
Composition[edit]
The song features a gospel-style choir and background contributions from various American rappers. Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage and Quavo each deliver an ad-lib.[10][12] Young Thug returns to supply the song's outro.[7] The lyrics primarily address black culture in the United States and gun violence in the country.[13] It also touches on the subject of police brutality and misconduct.[14][15] Pitchfork's Stephen Kearse described the song as a representation of the "tightrope of being black", with the song "built on the sharp contrast between jolly, syncretic melodies and menacing trap cadences".[16] Bryan Rolli of Forbes calls it "a vicious, urgent take on modern trap music, as Glover adopts the clipped, percussive flow of his contemporaries atop crackling 808s and rumbling bass."[3]
Media outlets reported that a number of listeners accused Gambino of plagiarism over "This Is America", pointing out the similarities between the song and "American Pharaoh" by Jase Harley.[17][18] CBS News stated, "The tracks have a similar sound, and share similar themes in the lyrics." Harley stated that he felt "This Is America" was influenced by his song. At the time, he did not have an issue with this.[19] However, when Gambino did not acknowledge him at the Grammys, Harley was upset and called Gambino a "house slave".[20][21] Glover's manager, Fam Rothstein, denied any plagiarism.[22] Childish Gambino was sued by Kidd Wes over substantial similarities with the song Made in America.[23]
Media appearances[edit]
Glover hosted the May 5 episode of the 43rd season of Saturday Night Live, and performed two new songs as Childish Gambino on the same episode, the second of which was "This Is America". Daniel Kaluuya, best known as the star of the film Get Out which the music video reportedly references, introduced the song's performance.[36][37]
Chart performance[edit]
"This Is America" debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 31st song to do so in the chart's history. It debuted with 78,000 downloads sold and 65.3 million US streams in the first week. Its music video accounted for 68% of the song's streaming total. "This Is America" is also Gambino's first top 10; he previously reached number 12 in August 2017 with "Redbone". "This Is America" overtook Drake's "Nice for What" from the top position for two weeks. Gambino is also the second Emmy Award-winning actor to reach number one on the Hot 100, the first being Justin Timberlake, who topped the chart with "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in 2016.[55] It topped the Hot 100 for two weeks, and left the top ten after five weeks.