Lyrics are here.

I like the analysis of you click on the lyrics. The analysis is fairly thoughtful/insightful.

I was thinking, "Funny, he looks a lot like the guy playing Lando in the new movie. Yeah, I think it is him. Cool that he'd agree to be in a video like this."

Then ...google-google... "Oh!"

Similar reaction here. I was really confused by analyses that were using CG and Glover's names interchangably until I looked it up.

There's a lot going on in the background there.

It takes a few views to unpack. I think it was my third or fourth viewing that I actually started crying.

It's a brilliant piece of satire and social commentary. I've lost count of how many times I have watched it by now, I'm still in awe.

I expect someone smarter than me is going to have thousands of words out shortly. That'll be a fun read and make the video even more enjoyable.

Also, give me my goddamn Lando movie.

I'm ashamed to admit I've never actually heard any of Donald Glover's music before.

While I was a fan of him in Community, I just assumed his music was generic hip-hop/pop (like most actors which suddenly become "musicians") and just wrote off Childish Gambino.

This is really good though; I will have to check out more of his stuff.

His first two albums, Camp and Because the Internet were very much hip-hop and rap, both very solid.

Awaken, My Love is his third album and more soul and R&B focused, with lots of different influences. One of my favorite albums of the last several years, it's pretty great.

Mainly generic hip-hop, but the music videos tell a story just as visual as this one.

Check out Bonfire, Heartbeat (or lyrics to it, rather), and Sober (music video)

Sober is a great video. I believe Hiro Murai directed that one as well, I know he's done a few with Childish Gambino.

I didn't think it was him dancing in Sober. I thought it was the same as Missy Elliot's Lose Control video with her head on somebody else's body.

Then I see this video and his performance on SNL.

Yeah, after checking out some of his other songs, This Is America seems to be uncharacteristically interesting, just from a purely musical perspective (even without considering the video).

Here are a few things happening in the music video that you may have missed, like Death riding a pale white horse followed by hell (represented by the police), but you will miss it from the pop culture dances happening in the foreground
https://mashable.com/2018/05/07/donald-glover-this-is-america-breakdown/

I don’t think it’s meant to be Death, as death never comes first. If Death came first, the other horsemen would be pointless. Suffering makes it scary (first three), death makes it it permanent and terrifying. I think it represents the idea that a hero will arrive on a white horse. In fact, the rider is white if you look at their hand. Covered in a black mask, in jeans (?), shows that they’re not what you were expecting.

Not your reality or mine's, obviously.

Some things I didn’t see pointed out elsewhere.

The main character is only aware of four people/groups the entire video. This includes other musical competition (guitar player at the beginning, choir, both of whom he kills after dancing up to them and stealing the scene), the catholic-school-uniform dance troupe, and the camera man. Otherwise he is completely unaware of and does not interact with anything else in the scenes. (The troupe members are the ones who take away the guns and bodies)

The only thing that causes anyone to react to the main character’s actions is when he pretends to point a gun.

Smoking a joint causes all other characters except the starlet, original bagged musician, and the cameraman to disappear. Main character appears to recognize when the cameraman is too far away and stops dancing.

This is shaping up to be the most analyzed music video ever.

Just the most interesting one in a while. Most of them are very specifically telling the story of their lyrics. This has a ton going on in the lyrics, main character, and background.

What I find great is how everything fits together. Play the song on its own, it changes. Play the video muted, it changes. Imagine anyone other than the artist as the central focus (which is why I feel it's important to know that Gambino *is* Glover for more than just being up on pop culture), it changes. There's a lot going on and being said in this music video, and it all depends on how it's packaged in a way that I can't recall seeing very often.

Further proof the simulation is breaking down and “uniqueness” is an illusion the master program is feeding us in order to carry out its research. End of line.

Lol, our diversity is only as complex as our differences, which are far more illusionary than most people would prefer. Gotta keep that code within the bounds of the simulation's memory space. :P

I literally just uploaded a video that matched a song and video of a different song and it was immediately marked as blocked due to copyright. How does this video get away with it?

Technically, it's Fair Use because it's transformative but.... I'm sure it'll get blocked soon enough though.

I haven’t seen a lot of music videos lately since we kicked out our tv subscription, and to my memory they were kinda meh for a good while. This video however... strong.

Fixing a repost...

Who Are the Death Metal Cowboys of Africa?