“This Is America”

mrbaapt said:
The fact that Glover has a white wife means nothing with regard to his art. If anything it makes him a target from black people who consider him a race traitor because of it, you just confirmed it.

Does the fact that Maya Angelou dated white dudes undermine the message in her writing?

Your line of thinking is bunk.
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I’m hispanic not black. Yeah that’s the way I knew of it since Ive read people on the internet “hate” on him cause of his white baby momma.
 
AlexDB9 said:
I’m hispanic not black. Yeah that’s the way I knew of it since Ive read people on the internet “hate” on him cause of his white baby momma.
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Instead of blindly cosigning on negative perspectives on the man why don't you do some of your own research? The color of his partner does not mitigate the authenticity of his art.
 
mrbaapt said:
Instead of blindly cosigning on negative perspectives on the man why don't you do some of your own research? The color of his partner does not mitigate the message of his art.
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Eh I’ll look into it. The whole thing just comes across as disengenous to me putting aside the baby momma joke
 
mrbaapt said:
Gene Simmons' entire shtick is embodying everything Christians are afraid of. Who would have thought the man who calls himself "The Demon" would have some photos of himself taken behaving consistent with his act?

Do you think perhaps there is value to being an iconoclast if it can be parlayed into profits? There is precedent for this as well, I mean it pretty much has elevated Robert Johnson from a forgettable short lived musician into the most important musician in Rock music ever.
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lol at shtick/act. Selling your soul to Satan will give you money and pleasure. Especially if you're capable of spreading Satan's evil far and wide. To me personally, it's not worth it considering how short this life is.

mrbaapt said:
You've been tricked by stupidity but assign yourself an enlightened title.

Sad and pathetic.
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Who's really been tricked here? Me or you?

448c2962d428a6dfb97d45764edcae97.gif
 
mrbaapt said:
What makes it disingenuous ?
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Feels like a kanye moment to me, using a theme he knew very well would be controversial in order to become “a cultural phenomenon” and sell more. The beat is catchy but the lyrics are just subpar. Dude also needs to cut the carbs

I appreciate good music with a meaningful message and this is not good music nor does it have some magical message, it’s like when you turn this:



Into this:

 
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I saw the video. It is a high-minded and ambitious creative endeavor. Setting aside the merits of Childish Gambino's substantive message (assuming he has one), the whole video is a series of visual "nods" (read: allusions) to loosely interrelated subject matter, most of which falls under the category of "black grievance." On top of that, Gambino's fans have read meaning into every frame of the video, crediting their subjective perceptions of the most mundane details to Gambino's artistic genius. For example, fans "noted the similarities between his pants and a Confederate soldier’s uniform" (SPOILER: they look nothing alike). Although Gambino fans might be mind-blown, the literary and artistic devices employed in This is America are manifestly sophomoric in comparison to analogous pop culture social commentary from eras past (see, for example, John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667)). Its lofty ambition only renders it a cringeworthy and tragically ironic illustration of the Dunning-Kruger effect. In short, fans have ascribed layers of complexity to this song which are objectively non-existent.

Then there's the song's message, or lack thereof. Because the video broaches so many topics without further argument or elaboration, it fails to deliver a coherent message about any particular topic. The most charitable interpretation, giving due weight to the common thread of "black grievance," yields a message that "America treats black people poorly," or something to that effect. This is hardly a novel point of view. Childish Gambino and his fans seem to think that if one "nods" to as many subjects as possible in a short amount of space, that the sum of those nods amounts to a commensurately profound message about those subjects. But beneath its pretense, This is America offers no greater insight into what it means to be "Black in America." In short, fans have ascribed layers of profundity to this song which are objectively non-existent.

Lastly, I disagree with the song's substantive message about America treating black people poorly. Despite his blackness, "Childish Gambino" (AKA Donald Glover) has been bestowed with wealth, fame, and critical acclaim for his vapid contribution to America's artistic tradition. Statistics disprove any possible point he could have about our society mistreating black people. Rather, the opposite is true – America loves black people, and it treats them better than it treats people from other demographics. The fact that so many people uncritically accept Gambino's disparaging of his host country is shameful. In short, This is America is a petulant, whiny, ungrateful ode to "first-world problems." It marks a new low for America's artistic tradition.

But aside from that, it's aight.
 
GetTheseHands said:
I love it when people born in 1983 complain about Jim Crow and Slavery, because it really affected your life
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Especially when those same people bitch about black people voting for republicans. Jim Crowe laws were made by democrats.
The republicans were formed TO END SLAVERY.
 
JamesRussler said:
I saw the video. It is a high-minded and ambitious creative endeavor. Setting aside the merits of Childish Gambino's substantive message (assuming he has one), the whole video is a series of visual "nods" (read: allusions) to loosely interrelated subject matter, most of which falls under the category of "black grievance." On top of that, Gambino's fans have read meaning into every frame of the video, crediting their subjective perceptions of the most mundane details to Gambino's artistic genius. For example, fans "noted the similarities between his pants and a Confederate soldier’s uniform" (SPOILER: they look nothing alike). Although Gambino fans might be mind-blown, the literary and artistic devices employed in This is America are manifestly sophomoric in comparison to analogous pop culture social commentary from eras past (see, for example, John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667)). Its lofty ambition only renders it a cringeworthy and tragically ironic illustration of the Dunning-Kruger effect. In short, fans have ascribed layers of complexity to this song which are objectively non-existent.

Then there's the song's message, or lack thereof. Because the video broaches so many topics without further argument or elaboration, it fails to deliver a coherent message about any particular topic. The most charitable interpretation, giving due weight to the common thread of "black grievance," yields a message that "America treats black people poorly," or something to that effect. This is hardly a novel point of view. Childish Gambino and his fans seem to think that if one "nods" to as many subjects as possible in a short amount of space, that the sum of those nods amounts to a commensurately profound message about those subjects. But beneath its pretense, This is America offers no greater insight into what it means to be "Black in America." In short, fans have ascribed layers of profundity to this song which are objectively non-existent.

Lastly, I disagree with the song's substantive message about America treating black people poorly. Despite his blackness, "Childish Gambino" (AKA Donald Glover) has been bestowed with wealth, fame, and critical acclaim for his vapid contribution to America's artistic tradition. Statistics disprove any possible point he could have about our society mistreating black people. Rather, the opposite is true – America loves black people, and it treats them better than it treats people from other demographics. The fact that so many people uncritically accept Gambino's disparaging of his host country is shameful. In short, This is America is a petulant, whiny, ungrateful ode to "first-world problems." It marks a new low for America's artistic tradition.

But aside from that, it's aight.
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I guess you only wrote the last line, lol.
 
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