Childish Gambino - This Is America METALHEAD REACTION TO HIP HOP!!! 

do you think that the children dancing around in the chaos represent what a lot of black (and poc in general) children are living through today?

baby elijah wood I would say the children dancing is symbolic of multiple things at once. Like how America loves our "culture" but ignore our struggle that comes with it. How America will focus on the entertainment we provide but ignored and is ignorant to our pain. That our children are our hope and shining Ray's of creativity and freedom yet they are the nail in the coffin to our continuous oppression and forced compliance. Any of it is up for grabs and interpretation.

Enlightening thank you xx

Merci pour cette explication

Thanks for this. I'm from South Africa and though I got the gist of it, I didn't notice certain details.

Weirdo is really fucking funny too

I went to a performing arts high school in Atl with him . I always called him Donnie cause it bugged him.

Renaissance man, Danny Glover. Keep doing it, man. The world needs it.

Donald Glover is fucking amazing.

@scooter he THRIVED in community

Truth is Singular life changing quote

You took the words right out my mouth!

What? The city?

It is a Show on FX network. its called "Atlanta" He won a Emmy for it last year

his brother write it

MrDieg999 they both write it

if only other people could understand like he does

Didn't even realize it was him

Yeah I'm more of a metal/rock fan. at first I kinda dismissed the genre, but after looking into it with an open mind and easing into it I can say I like it all :P

You have to get use to things sonically. Hip hop hear have the same problem.

I, as a former metalhead, also went through this route. But with all genres, actually. I realized I wasn't experiencing music as a whole and I'm so glad I realized that, I've discovered so many jewels outside of my prefered genre. Now I can only see people that's closed on one genre as foolish, because it's such a cool thing to be aware of the great things going on with music in general to only pay attention to one part of it and think the rest is not worth of attention.

I thought it was very aware, that he caught himself so quickly on that.

Say it one more time.. just for 2021.

always will be relevant, shit look at changes by 2pac thats still relevant

@@CojaGN I hate it, but you're right

@@djd34d14 I mean like listen to the song 'In the ghetto' by Elvis. It has a similar message and it was released over 50 years ago. Nothing has changed from the message of the song.

Sadly, unless some major shit changes, this is going to be relevant 20 years from now, or after...

canonogic he is very inspiring

Don’t forget about Derrick Comedy! If you haven’t watched their sketches, go binge them now!

Go on youtube and watch where he started on Derrick Comedy

Another interesting that cant be in any category is xxxtentacion 🔥🔥🔥🔥

If you like Donald’s music you would love childish gambinos music he sound just alike.

Stash PHL theyre the same person

Lol... this is true!

I put it just now and it said Mugger Barbed for Donald😂

@@DJSCRMNGHST you gotta put it in the unsecure og ass website to get the name.

There is a Wu-Tang name generator?

Mine is Arrogant Swami. Lol

Fantastic comment.

Couldn't agree more.

exactly what i thought. so many reaction videos from ppl who are more embedded into the community who didnt get the message and were still turning up during the video. great job guys

@Thomas: It's both ironic and exactly one of the points of the video, which is, again, ironic... (sorry for strange ways in my writing, but, English is my second language - I know it's a bit robotic) As I see it, one of the core problems of people who live in the USA (not everyone of course, but a rather scary percentage, which became obvious during the 2016 election) is that, for a long time, they have been bombarded with all sorts of, I don't want to say propaganda, because (the irony again,) the "everything is politics" readers will be "activated" (too late I guess,) but a sort of a reality shield: always told about the superiority of their country, economic, moral, cultural, religious - you name it. There was always some scary reason given for it. Initially it was very real (WWII,) then still real (USSR,) but a bit all over the place during the Cold War, and, as the time passed, the people with monetary/political powers had it all figured out: they had a recipe for amassing more and more money (maintaining an absurd military budget, political system often advertised as democratic but in reality tuned to pump more and more benefits to the people at the top, and so on - an intricate machine to sustain the rich to get richer with less and less boundaries.) Now, I just watched some Jessica Jones episode (not really related to anything here otherwise,) and heard a line that fits very well into this: "with great power comes great mental illness (yes, normally it's responsibility, but this is a twist)", and madness we see indeed. In any case, in short (good luck to myself with this one...,) it may seem a bit strange that so many people living in the USA don't even get all the nuances in the video, but, many are "trapped" there, not realizing how far they drifted from being self-aware with respect to many other countries. Not trapped like, say, in North Korea, where it's obvious how they are being controlled - they are (were?) trapped literally. This entrapment is quite different, less direct, but the ultimate effect can be as much disastrous, as should be clear by now (or not...) In any case, there are many interpretations of the whole video, and we are talking about a form of art, not a math formula with some clear result, but I think there are many layers that can be applied to it and the further you are from the USA itself, the more likely you are to focus on the outside, more general layers. Due to the racial tensions in the USA, a lot of interpretations there will stop on the racial motives. Since the country revolves around money to such extent that, for many, the goal of life is to amass more and more of it: never stopping, with no bounds and limits, often seeing this as the ultimate goal in any circumstances. For example, I have seen suggestions that it's all about black people having less chance to participate in the amassing of that money. As we go to more and more general layers, there will be all sorts of racially charged interpretations still (and justly so,) but, going further, up and up, through politics, the entertainment, gun issues, and so on, at some point you will likely have to look from outside to see the inner layers filtered out. Then, you see that the overall message can be still applied to societies in general. Societies that are repeating the cycles of same mistakes over and over again, just with the overall scenery/technology becomes updated for more modern times. For example, as I saw it, the scene where the artists slowly freezes into the "gun holding" pose and then relaxes, is about him seemingly becoming aware of something not quite right going on around, but no, it eventually becomes clear that not really - it was just a pause and the self-reflection is only superficial, maybe even mostly due to the effect of whatever that guy is inhaling there. When the scene ends, he then goes back and starts the next cycle - the surroundings are relatively empty still and there are some changes (the car to dance on seems to be more modern, for example.) However, the chance to break the whole cycle was lost, because the "distorted reality" machine is that good at doing its job: seems there's no escape, and I think the overall message is that making some superficial changes around technology is not enough - to break the cycle, something extraordinary must happen. There's much more of course that can be said about the video, but, that's already well past the usual "TLDR", so, I'll cut it here. P.S. Does anyone see it in similar way or my interpretations is, well, too "out there"?

I was going to say something similar, but you already said it all, so I will simply say I agree.

Cherry Skies also all the cars are older symbolizing the lack of progression in the black community.

I took the cars as symbolic of all of the people killed at Police traffic stops. Hazard lights on, driver's doors open, but the people are gone...

Your all wrong!!!!!

​@Timmyduke04 nah you're wrong. Can't even use Grammer properly...

psssst. not to pick at spelling and grammar, but you should probably change "menstrual" to "minstrel" (one is your period, the other is a travelling performer of old :P)

Gina Coyle Nornes Thanks Lady. Darn autocorrect. 😒

not a bother Mademoiselle ;)

Who is the new Jim Crow?

@Me'bret Belay as much as I agree with your comment I have to say it that I disagree because I am a Jamaican and when I watch a video for the first time I was able to understood and see what sort of messages he was trying to show towards public although I have no idea who was Jim Crow as I had to do my little research here and there as well for the certain shootings that was seen in the video true but I had the basic idea of what is going on and I am outsider

Shit, didn't know that bit

It's Calvin C. Winbush II, a Los Angeles-based actor and musician who goes by "Calvin the Second" professionally. www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/entertainment/trayvon-martin-father-this-america/index.html

Oh shit I didn’t know that was Treyvon’s dad

Mike A didn't know guns shot people. Pretty sure a person points squeezes and fires the gun. Had guns over 17 years now since I was 10 never had my gun kill anyone strange..

GhostlyGhille “since i was 10”. Wow, giving a weapon to a child, America in a nutshell.

Also it was handled by children. I think it also means how the children in our future will have to deal with our problems

I mean the AK wasn’t handled nicely, it was kinda just thrown

Nick 803 it was handled with more care than the victims, he had a guy with a towel

Jhon he literally said Trayvon Martin

Joshua Schnoor the point went over your head

Art is subjective but I think this addresses the climate in America and how black culture is at the forefront of America but the atrocities perpetrated on black folks goes unnoticed. The Protagonist pose in the first shooting copies the pose of a famous jim crow poster. This sets the tone for the whole video. Childish Gambino dances effortlessly whilst making very exaggerated comical facial expressions to entertain the public(like the jim crow posters) which serves as a distraction and almost overshadows these horrible things happening in the background. Donald Glover killing spree is a symbolism to show how complicit he is because him being the focal point of the black experience takes away from all the wrongdoings happening to the people in the background. The end scene is the point where the background noises finally catch up to him and he can no longer escape the inevitable and his facial expression shift from being comical to fear and panic as his attempt to turn a blind eye finally catches up to him.

Martynas Povilaitis the end part was a tribute to the movie “Get out” (as we also saw Peele in the choir) as it introduced the theory of the “sunken place,” in which marginalized people are aware of the violence that surrounds them, yet are powerless to stop it.

Also the 17 second pause for the 17 that died in the Florida shooting

I think you're spot on. And I think it's a shout out to Americans of all colors that we need to check ourselves on our distraction issue.

great analysis, I saw the end kinda similar. I thought it was a mixture of the sunken place and cultural appropriation because it looks like hes running from white folks, but then theres a black woman running alone off to the side and it looks like her hair could be natural.

Fucking Belinda!

Back in the days of Bro Rape

fr !

true they remind of lost in vegas

Me too!

ghttboi 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Because both channels have great personalities, chemistry, and offer genuine reactions with passionate commentary.

Quality show if I do say so myself

Top notch show that

MrKiingpin love that show. Donald Glover really is a genius in everything he does

I started binge watching community again a few weeks back. I got to season 5 and he released that witch made me appreciate him so much more.

I mean my profile pic says it all 👌

Yoichi Kenjie are you Japanese??

Yoichi Kenjie 😂🌝

Johnny sins and Macklemore

Daniel Pm lmao

Simon by day, Johnny by night

I just learned this information today cool

As a Brit, I can't understand entirely how your culture is built around censoring out the violence and destruction. However, I sympathize with all Americans who speak out against this style of culture and attempt to combat it. Please let me know if I've misinterpreted your culture trying to censor your country, but that is how I view it.

We largely censor out the violence and destruction ourselves because we feel like there's nothing we can do to change it. I mean, we do try to change it but the powerful have a vested interest in keeping things to stay the same. We have the Black Lives Matter movement seeking to change police brutality that disproportionately affects Black and minority communities but policing in the US has convinced so many that their power needs to go unchallenged. When we point out serious problems that need to be addressed we are called unpatriotic, that the US is the best in the world. We try to change things but our efforts become discredited by propagandists and so the efforts fade and we turn back to the shallow culture of worshiping celebrities and trying to be like them.

So true most Americans would like to overlook the ugly part of America instead of trying to deal with the truth of the matter.

Bravo. Such a valid point. It's so bad that when I watch American reaction videos, they start bopping their head and dancing to the music when the beat drops..... but they completely miss the entire point of the video and don't understand the message. Literally the ultimate irony.

@brodie - I think exactly the opposite - our American culture is not built around censoring violence and destruction but around the sale of violence. Every American movie that features the US military, is screened and approved by the military; propaganda. A major source of GPD in the Summertime is Hollywood Blockbusters (violent movies). Our videogames train our young people to aim and fire. Ironically what we censor in America is the very natural and ideally loving act of sex; funny the contrast between America and Europe in this regard. (Regardless of what you feel about the quality of movie,) Lars Von Triers' movie Nymphomaniac was made with European regulatory agents and sensibilities in mind, and onscreen sex acts that were not simulated were OK, while the very single act of gun violence in the film happened offscreen with just a sound effect. I do believe that the art/media products of a culture influence the way that the society behaves; it recalls the maxim "Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

the uk is the same and tbh most countries

Screw You Google ?

ExidiumYT he’s talking about Gambino

Gambino plays the gun buyer in homecoming

Ah. I haven’t seen homecoming so yea I wouldn’t understand hahah

ExidiumYT you should i dont really like spiderman but it was a really good movie.

robin volpi wow, that was really good to read

Great Explanation

Mahasin A.K. Thank you.

Dead on! ✊🏽

sorry but the music is actually southern black american

👏 👏 👏

Omar Haddouch here’s a link to the article, too: www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/05/07/this-is-america-breaking-down-childish-gambinos-powerful-new-music-video/

I like your interpretation.

'Jim Crow' wasn't just a poster it's actually the *'Jim Crow Laws'* which were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. The imagery on the poseter you are referring to comes from a white man Thomas Dartmouth Rice who performed a popular song-and-dance act supposedly modeled after a slave. He named the character Jim Crow. Rice darkened his face, acted like a buffoon, and spoke with an exaggerated and distorted imitation of African American Vernacular English. In his Jim Crow persona, he also sang "Negro ditties" such as "Jump Jim Crow." The poster that everyone knows as an image associated with the *'Jim Crow Laws'* is the cover of an early edition of 'Jump Jim Crow' sheet music where it shows Thomas D. Rice pictured in his blackface role; he was performing at the Bowery Theatre (also known as the "American Theatre") at the time. The image was highly influential on later Jim Crow and minstrelsy images, not to mention the iconic representation of the awful *'Jim Crow Laws'*.

I know about the Jim crow laws...But you have some good information there as well... :)

fadi aboona he is the worst rapper.

As an American, we know A LOT about what this is about because we live here lol

Monique Major Everyone outside of America got it instantly instead of Americans, so sad because I am American Lol

Dark Static but the sad thing is alot of Americans dont know what its about because were from America

Are you seriously saying that you as an AUSTRALIAN have a better understanding of this than actual AMERICANS??? How stuck up do you have to be to make a statement like this

I'm Aussie. It's NOT up for ANY free for all interpretation ... it relates SPECIFICALLY to BLACK Americans as WELL as gun violence. If you don't understand that - you are part of the problem.

wizrank WHO DAT boy or RUSTY

Yes do Rusty!!! Please Rock Reacts!

Do Yonkers!

Okra?

See You Again, 911/Mr Lonely, just the whole flower boy album lol

Why?

Sebastian Barczok Wtf is defiant wrestling lmao

Nah he looks more like that videogame guy, you know, the big baldy one.

Satyan Gunasekaran Because he is that wrestler that debuted. Lol

He is the wrestler, and he also is on the what culture wrestling channel

and 3005 !

A lot of the hip hop community? Lol i dont think so

saul maldonado I don't think they will do it

I hope they do... always makes for a good reaction

That would be great

Classic, I love when people react to it

They reviewed that already