How Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ Indicts and Challenges Its Audience
The controversial new music video by Donald Glover and Hiro Murai has amassed millions of YouTube views while exposing viewers to the horrors of the black experience in America.
~IRA MADISON III~
Have you ever been grateful for something that you find aesthetically revolting?
The caustically violent “This Is America,” Donald Glover’s latest single and video under his musical moniker Childish Gambino, is exactly that.
The song, which blends jazz, hip-hop, and South African melodies to deliver a scheming-up mantra of “get your money, black man,” takes on an entirely different tone when paired with its Hiro Murai-directed music video that depicts Glover maniacally dancing while simultaneously murdering black people in pastoral tableaus.
Informative video but there were some other things I picked up/read about:
1. His pants are supposed to be similar to the basics of confederate army uniforms
2. SZA (the women at the end) is representing lady liberty passively watching this all going on, which is ironic since she’s the symbol of freedom.
3. The horse followed by the police car is a biblical reference “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” – Revelation 6:8 “
4. The cars shown in the video are all 80s-90s make. They’re not like the typical rap cars you see in videos.
5. Kids on their cellphones represent how passive we are when things happen in front of us. There has been many occasions when something fatal could have been stopped, but people were too busy recording it on their phones.
Anyways! That’s a few takeaways I’ve had.
Good art always provokes thought and conversation.
From a Facebook Member, Josie Fletcher … had to share!
Prince isn’t dead … he just hopped on his “Little Red Corvette” … with his “Raspberry Beret” … drove off through the “Purple Rain“, over “Graffiti Bridge” … under the “Cherry Moon“, partying like it’s “1999” … because this is what happens “When Doves Cry“!!
Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, philanthropist, dancer and record producer. He was a musical innovator who was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup, and wide vocal range.
His music integrates a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelia, and pop. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time.
He won seven Grammy Awards, an American Music Award, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for the film Purple Rain.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists, “the most influential artists of the rock & roll era“.
~Wikipedia~
~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~
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Plenty of times I’ve heard … ‘those people on welfare are taking advantage of the system’.
They shouldn’t be on it. I’m paying for it with the taxes I pay.
Some have applauded Trump’s taking advantage, for his personal benefit, of the current tax code.
That’s what makes him smart.
That’s what makes him a genius!
That’s what makes him a great businessman.
Yet, remember, we also paid for his gaming the system with the taxes we pay.
Hence, no complaining about the welfare use if Trump’s ‘gaming of the system’ is OK with some.
These two options ARE NOT inclusive.
It’s comparing ‘apples to oranges’.
The idiom, comparing apples and oranges, refers to the apparent differences between items which are popularly thought to be incomparable or incommensurable, such as apples and oranges.
Gaming the system (also referred to as gaming the rules, bending the rules, abusing the system, cheating the system, milking the system, playing the system, or working the system) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system in order, instead, to manipulate the system for a desired outcome …
~Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia~
~Social Welfare System Definition~
A social welfare system provides assistance to needy individuals and families.
The types and amount of welfare available to individuals and families vary depending on the country, state or region.
While still in PR, I started working with the federal government in 1985.
Up to that time, I was paying taxes to the government of Puerto Rico.
When I started with the federal government, I had to add paying taxes to the USA also.
That meant that a considerable part of my personal income went to the coffers of two major countries.
My own, Puerto Rico, and the United States, my employer.
I don’t believe that anyone pays taxes happily.
I do believe that we pay taxes because it’s our civic duty and obligation.
I was and never will be at the economical/income bracket that Mr. Trump seems to be.
I’m a retiree. I’ve been retired for three years now.
I still pay taxes.
Why would someone, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, be any better than me?
Any better than any of us?
Trump didn’t pay taxes because he found a loophole that allowed him to keep all of his income while not paying taxes and declaring $916 million loss that would be offset by not paying taxes for almost 20 years!
Many complain that ‘illegal immigrants’ don’t pay taxes.
Well, if they have a job, they do.
I guess that neither these immigrants or myself can be included in the ‘genius’ category.
I think we are to be included in the honest, responsible and idiot categories!
Paying your taxes is considered a civic duty, although doing so is also a requirement of the law. If you do not pay your taxes, the government agency that oversees taxes – the Internal Revenue Service or IRS – will require you to pay your taxes or else face penalties, such as fines or going to jail.
~Giuliani claims Trump ‘a genius’ for not paying taxes~
( … that’s the campaign’s talking point … )
THE MAN IS A GENIUS!
‘That makes me smart’
… in the bizarro world he has created for himself and his ilk!
Rudy Giuliani called Donald Trump a “genius” Sunday, October 2, in the wake of a New York Times report indicating he may have legally avoiding paying taxes for nearly two decades.
“The reality is, this is part of our tax code.
The man’s a genius.
He knows how to operate the tax code to the benefit of the people he’s serving,” the former New York City mayor told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
Throughout the contentious interview, Tapper repeatedly pressed Giuliani on his claims that Trump was a “genius” and a good businessman based on The New York Times reporting.
“I think that there are a lot of very, very successful businessmen and women who pay federal income taxes and don’t look for every single opportunity there is to avoid paying them,” Tapper said at one point.
The New York Times reported Saturday. September 24, that Trump reported a loss of $916 million on his 1995 tax records – which, tax experts said, would have allowed Trump to avoid paying income taxes for a period of 18 years.
With Prince’s shocking death, the monumental scope of his influence on music is just starting to become clear.
The rock, funk and R&B icon has inspired dozens of today’s award-winning artists and has crafted numerous albums that ended up greatly reshaping our current musical landscape.
He is not just Prince; he is a king.
And unlike some royalty, Prince loved to share his wealth, writing numerous songs for his fellow artists and allowing his music to be covered by other performers as well.
Some of Prince’s successful pieces may surprise you, especially since he doesn’t sing a word on the tracks. Read on for eleven songs you probably know, but never knew were written by Prince.
We ALL are connected through MUSIC!!
“Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor
Perhaps The Purple One’s best known outside effort, this 1990 single, complete with bald, teary video, gave Sinead O’Connor a worldwide hit. Prince originally wrote and composed “Nothing Compares 2 U” for his funk band side project, The Family, but the song was never released as a single.
“Manic Monday” by The Bangles
Prince wrote this weekday lament in 1984 as a duet for the band Apollonia 6, but the song was never put on a record. Two years after crafting the catchy creation, Prince offered the song to The Bangles under the pseudonym “Christopher,” because he liked the song “Heroes Take the Fall” and was reportedly attracted to the group’s rhythm guitarist Susanna Hoffs.
“Love Song” by Madonna
Prince helped Madonna cowrite this song for the 1989 album Like a Prayer. Madonna traveled to The Studio at Paisley Park in Minnesota, where Prince was pronounced dead, to come up with the piece. Along with helping to write the track, Prince also sang and played guitar on “Love Song.”
“Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks
Prince paired up with Nicks to help her write this top five hit. The Fleetwood Mac singer has often shared the interesting birth story behind this single from her solo career. According to Nicks, she was inspired to create the song after listening to Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” When she went to record “Stand Back”, she called Prince about the song, and he showed up at the studio that night to help finish up the track.
“I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan
While Khan was not the first one to this song, she made the most memorable version. Prince originally wrote the song for Patrice Rushen but ended up recording the song himself and putting it on his 1979 self-titled album. “I Feel For You” went on to be covered by The Pointer Sisters and Mary Wells, but it was Khan’s 1984 version that became the hit to withstand the test of time.
“The Glamorous Life” by Sheila E.
Like “Manic Monday,” Prince first wrote this song for Apollonia 6. The creation was eventually given to the singer and percussionist Sheila E., who transformed the song into a top dance hit.
“Jungle Love” by The Time
The rival band in Purple Rain is actually playing plenty of Prince songs. “The Kid” wrote many songs for the Minneapolis-based band, who were also close friends and collaborators with the artist in real life. Prince helped pen “Jungle Love,” one of the group’s most popular songs, in 1983 and also played multiple instruments on the track.
“With This Tear” by Celine Dion
Prince wrote the 1992 song as a gift to Dion, who put the present, backed by her stunning voice, on her self-titled album.
“Sugar Walls” by Sheena Easton
Ditching his previous pseudonym “Christopher” for the new name “Alexander Nevermind,” the disguised Prince wrote this U.S. dance hit for Easton in 1984.
“Love … Thy Will Be Done” by Martika
Prince co-wrote this single with Maritka for her 1991 debut album Maritka’s Kitchen. The track went on to top pop charts in numerous countries.
“How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” by Alicia Keys
Prince wrote and recorded this ballad in 1982 as a b-side to his single “1999,” but the track didn’t become a commercial success until Keys covered the song in 2002, retitling it “How Come You Don’t Call Me.” Keys’ version went on to appear on several charts across the world.
Prince’s Legendary Solo On “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
The body of Prince Rogers Nelson died today and the universe lost a master whose music transcended the Earthly bounds of genre and gender.
The man put it best when he described himself by saying: “My name is Prince and I am funky.”
Anyone who tries to quantify his musical achievements or explain his abilities in a single tribute would be a fool for the attempt. But one way to understand the power of a true genius is seeing how brightly they shine when in the presence of other legends.
In the clip below, Prince goes supernova.
Back in 2004, The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame paid tribute to Beatle George Harrison with a performance of his classic, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
Recorded in 1968 for the Beatles’ “White Album,” the track was a rarity for the Fab Four because it featured a guest artist, Harrison’s friend Eric Clapton, on lead guitar.
For the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame’s tribute performance, it assembled a super-group featuring Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra, Harrison’s son Dhani and on lead guitar, playing Clapton’s role, was Prince.
Somewhere in interstellar space a supernova formed the Love Symbol
The year was 1982 and Prince was exploding into the realms of American popular culture. Ten years later, he’d go on to adopt the unpronounceable mark as only proper visual moniker for The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, but the symbol was born in 1982, on the album cover for 1999.
There, in a collage that scintillated with the Love Symbol’s formative phases, Minnesota’s Purple Yoda imaged a manifesto against social prototypes.
Deep within a starry, violaceous space, the words Prince and 1999 dominate the album cover’s vast expanse. Presumably it was Prince himself who drew its letters and numbers, along with other non-representational shapes, symbols, and scenes.
In doing so, the Purple One reflected on his previous body of work to propel rebellion across light-years.
In the same P where a mane suggests Prince’s masculinity, the Love Symbol began its genesis, making its first appearance with its first configuration. The widely used emblems for peace (☮), femininity (♀) and masculinity (♂) emanate separately from a sun. After traveling through the letters spelling Prince, the three icons return as one, O (+>, following the phallic 1 at the bottom of the 9, as if the product of ejaculation.
The melding of the three convolutes gender by implying that multiple can exist in one entity—simultaneously and without much turbulence.
In that way, the Love Symbol cruise-controls on sexual ambiguity. 1999’s cover shares paradigm-altering eccentricities with artists from a former time and space.
~~On June 7th Prince changed his name to a Symbol~~
~~Published on Jun 24, 2014~~
~~Prince explains his name change~~
1999 CNN Interview
~~Published on Apr 21, 2016~~
In a 1999 interview with CNN, Prince explains why he decided to take the step to replace his name with a symbol.
It Is What It Is 