This Is America Donald Glover Analysis

Long before the 90s, race and ethnicity have been a controversial issue all over the world, particularly in the United States. In sociology, the concepts of race and ethnicity is connected to the concept of minority and majority groups, with the social structures of stratification, power, and of course inequality. Race is a term that describes the physical differences that are considered socially critical to cultures and groups, while ethnicity is a term that describes the shared culture, like beliefs, language, practices, and ancestry. Agitation for equality has been seen in the music world, particularly among the blacks in the United States, the majority of black musical artistes have written songs relating to how black lives matter. This paper will analyze an old rap lyrics of the 90s titled as “Erase Racism” in relation to race and ethnicity.

The journey of self-discovery is one we must all take. The presence of fame can make the journey even longer because of the expectations that often accompany it. Donald Glover is a versatile part of America’s entertainment industry. Known primarily for his comedic endeavors and the music he releases under the pseudonym Childish Gambino, Glover is a force to be reckoned with. Prior to the release of his project “Because the Internet,” Glover posts an open letter on Instagram sharing his fears concerning life, relationships, and self-identity. Following suit of 2010’s “Donald for Spiderman” campaign, news of Glover’s deteriorating mental health spread quickly, shocking his growing fan base. Gone is the bright and energetic Troy Barnes, Glover’s

Over the past few years tragic events seem to be surrounding our society. An array of killings, social protests, police brutality and racism have startled the nation. Lately celebrities have been addressing these issues more and more on TV, in interviews and in the public eye. One incredible artist just used her talent to address all of these issues and more in her new music video "Formation". Beyoncé is an iconic figure in our culture, spreading her talent, feminist views and activism worldwide. This video is one of a kind. It is not centered on her but on Black America. There have been many critics disagreeing with Beyoncé 's video. They felt that she spread negative messages of police throughout her video. Others, however, loved her video. They felt she used her platform to reach out and address issues. Supporters and critics of the video have expressed their opinions in many different ways. In this paper I will analyze this video that has been shared worldwide. The question I ask is: "How does Beyoncé depict the complexity of Black Americans?" In order to answer this question, I will apply Pentadic criticism to analyze this discourse.

Disagreements, anger, and division has taken center stage in America today. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and its accompanying visual masterpiece, engulfs the listener and viewer into a true perspective view of culture and effects of society on African-Americans in our community. “Alright” conveys not only a message to African-Americans but to every individual worldwide that the oppression through police brutality, violence, and attempted political power will not leave us helpless or hopeless, but alright or in a satisfactory mental or physical state.

Published in 1994, Tricia Rose’s book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, has developed to one of the most influential academic works considering hip hop culture. It describes Rap music and Black Culture, focusing on the potency the inhabitants of the United States have. She writes primarily about Rap music, whereas Rose points out the following themes. She starts by talking about hip hop’s (including rap) history, followed by the interruption of the media in hip hop’s occurrences and describes the political happenings within this culture. Finally Rose explores the role of women in hip hop culture, especially

Lauryn Hill is the queen of R&B. Michael Jordan is the king of basketball. It is widely known that throughout American history, African American talent has been extrusive. Would it be ‘narrow-minded’ to describe someone’s talent in these fields as ‘black?’ While it may seem these ascriptions are a simple compliment, they also serve as a developmental handicap. In William Raspberry’s essay, “The Handicap of Definition” he highlights the stereotype of what it actually means to be Black by definition. Raspberry uses multiple examples to help acknowledge the underlying fact that the definition of black is restrictive, and how much of a toll it takes on African-Americans.

Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man is a fascinating novel about a nameless black man and his struggle to become successful and find his true identity in a predominantly white society that refuses to see him as person. Taking place in Harlem in the 1930’s, the story accurately depicts the life of a black man and the many injustices he faces nearly every day. More than eighty-seven years later, African-Americans still encounter numerous challenges similar to the ones the Invisible man experienced. Today, many hip-hop artists bring awareness to these problems through their songs. Most notably, Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly (March 15, 2015) deals with the topics of black oppression, institutionalized racism, and an American system designed to destroy African Americans. Despite genre and time differences, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and The Invisible Man are essential works of art in order to inspire, educate, empower, and promote social and political changes.

In this book, Jeffrey Ogbar talks about the beginning of rap, where it started, some of the artists of this genre and some of the controversial topics the artists rap about. He also talks about the usage of the N word as well as men calling women the B word. In the first chapter of the book, Ogbar contextualizes the debate by talking about the history of the minstrel figure in American popular culture, relying mainly on the work of W. T. Lhamon and Patricia Hill Collins. He talks about how the earliest manifestations of hip-hop music in the 1970s came from the Black Power movement and often included direct rejections of minstrel tropes for example in the artist KRS-One’s song “My Philosophy”. Before going on a chronological study of the internal debates that many rappers have over their relationships with the minstrel trope, Ogbar finds the source of the debate in early twentieth-century black writers’, mainly W.E.B Du Bois, interest in elevating many portrayals of African Americans in the arts, versus Harlem Renaissance writers’ rejection of the emphasis on

The 60s and early 70s was a radical era with many powerful movements taking place in which colonial people of groups like the Black Panthers who had enough injustices of capitalism. They established themselves as a voice of the people for social change and a force to be reckoned as we learned by author Jamal Joseph. Decades later we’re still in the same predicament because humanity has failed to recognize that we have such a misunderstood history of oppression throughout our society. There is a lot of aggression being felt around the US because of the uprise of police brutality, but as always music is still an outlet for self-expression for those who suffer from colonialism. I will demonstrate how hip-hop artists like Kendrick Lamar has had an impact on American culture regarding police brutality, imprisonment, and poverty by talking about these exact social problems in his music, and inspiring generation to be conscious including myself when it comes to fighting back within my own poetry.

Racial Discrimination is dreadful. It’s a social conflict against those who are a slightly different based on appearance. It has indeed become a well-known issue, which has created problems throughout the world. This issue is so distributing that it has incredibility-impacted society, especially influenced artists to incorporate the current issue into their songs. For instance, artists like Kendrick Lamar have expressed the issue of racial discrimination. In his song “The Blacker the Berry” from his album To pimp a butterfly (2015), he speaks about the racism and stereotypes from his own experiences. The song is about the frustration with how African Americans are treated due to the racism. This hip-pop song enhances the message through the use of Lamar personal life experiences as well his way of rapping with the intense beats. This demonstrates the seriousness of his message he wants the listener to grasp. Bob Marley has a song dealing with racial discrimination called “War” from the album Rastaman Vibration (1976). The song heavily emphasis the overall issue that has to with racism and achieving peace in society. Bob Marley mainly focuses on the lyrical power that is expressed through melodic in “War”. These songs were initially made for the purpose to inform the listeners of their lifestyle through racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is a huge issue, which causes serious damage to the victims.

Unlike many other mainstream artists, Kendrick Lamar attaches great importance to the lyrics of his songs. Lamar’s song “DNA”, released last April, became a real breakthrough in the world of hip-hop music. In this song, Lamar reflects on various social issues faced by the modern African-American community of the USA. The song’s lyrics, as well as the music video, portrays the most common stereotypes and biases labeled to the African-American community. The central aim of the song is to sarcastically demonstrate the image of African-Americans as they are viewed by biased media. By the use of symbolical sarcasm and double meanings, Lamar underlines the acuteness of the race inequality that remains existing in the modern America.

Alternatively, the very strength of hip-hop discourse, which is a critique of the generations-long African American impoverishment, runs the risk of rationalizing persistent and programmatic social envy and identity-politics anger--without also supplying a rationale for breaking out of self-destructive cycles. Nothing about of rap/hip-hop, which he characterizes as "the most significant cultural achievement of our generation" (22). Indeed, the market success of hip-hop created heroes and cultural icons where none had existed before and from among the most unlikely of sources. What he does insist on, however, is that hip-hop culture and the values it sanctions are rife with contradictions that an assertion of its complexity does not sufficiently

In those years, racism was a strong and violent issue that not only referred to women but also to minorities such as black people, gays and single mothers. Today people are still struggle with these very issues. Racism in America is proving that this essay is sadly very relevant today and this minorities group reacts in different ways but always similar to Lorde’s description of poetry as a form of creativity as a class issue, thinking that in the 80’s poetry was the most economical way of communication. In recent years there has been an explosion of creativity by minority groups in form of: street-art, rap music, and

Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem, is recognized for his work as a rap artist who is able to connect with his audience through humor and rhythmically dicey lyrics. Eminem’s “My Name Is” music video is able signify whiteness and rearticulate race with the use intertextual editing techniques that parody common representations of whiteness. Eminem is using his “My Name Is” video as an approach to solidify his style of rapping and thus create new political and cultural authenticities that entice questions of race representation in the 1990’s and beyond. (Kajikawa).

The ongoing struggle to fight the skin color prejudice in the contemporary American society is portrayed in Michael Jackson’s song “Black or White.” Whereas the racism is defined as a superior behavior against other race-thus making it inferior, the singer refers to this term as “See, it’s not about races, just places, faces, where your blood comes from is where your space is.” Michael Jackson, one of the most influential artists in the music industry, calls for equality in how people view and behave towards each other. The question, which this master thesis investigates, does it matter if you’re black or white, is clearly answered by the singer: “It don’t matter if you’re black or white.” Jackson was trying to influence his society to