This is America by Donald Glover, aka, Childish Gabino

Donald Glover has done it again with his latest song, This is America! His artistic genius brought us the song Stay Woke from the movie Get Out. He is now starring in the FXTV series, Atlanta, and has released the song, This is America, published under his alter ego, Childish Gabino. The subtle messages of issues in our lives, is the common thread of each of these artistic endeavors. While these issues are very current, they have been going on for decades.

I first saw Glover’s performance on SNL and was impressed with the dancers. Then the buzz started about the video and I had to check it out. In watching the entire video, I HEARD his words, I watched the scenes of distractions and violence and I was left thinking, “Wow, what a great depiction of African American life.” I am constantly singing, “We gonna talk about it, we just wanna party, get that money and this is America.” Checkout the video, This is America by Donald Glover on YouTube. You will be unable to stop watching Glover’s every move. It got 50M views in 4 days. No, he is not related to Danny Glover.

Glover is influenced by artists, musicians and filmmakers of the past; Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Spike Lee, and others who used their platforms to express societal problems through their art form. What makes Gabino/Glover such a power player? Is he blessed to become relevant during the digital age? It will be interesting to see where he takes us. It is my hope that he becomes a true change agent and not just another artist with insight.