Childish Gambino unexpectedly dropped the video for his new song 'This Is America' over the weekend and it has the internet shookith.
The rapper, real name Donald Glover, hosted and performed on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL), thrusting his new track into the spotlight.
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'This Is America' confronts many topics facing America today and the video includes horrifying gun violence, racism and the ease with which people can ignore them if there's dancing and rapping in the foreground.
Warning: This video contains graphic images and language which may offend.
In one part of the video, Gambino shoots a hooded prisoner in the back of the head before turning to the camera and stating, "This is America".
A Twitter user pointed out the nuanced reference to Jim Crow artistry in Gambino's pose.
In another part of the video, Gambino mows down a singing and dancing black gospel choir with a semi-automatic weapon, a scene which appears to be a reference to the infamous Charleston shooting of 2015.
The firearms are carefully placed in cloth and whisked away by well-dressed men in the video, while the black bodies lie where they fell, clearly a reverence to the controversy around gun control reform currently in the United States.
Reactions to the video have been overwhelmingly positive, with many labelling Gambino a "genius".
He even garnered support from controversial rapper Kanye West, who tweeted a link to the video despite being the butt of one of Glover's SNL jokes.
Singer SZA makes a cameo in the clip, sitting on a car near the end of the video. She shared a still from the shoot on Instagram.
He's previously said his next album will be his last.
Newshub.
