Childish Gambino

[Corpsey]

Luka will hate it too btw

[Woebot]

I mean it works if you have a disregard for the actual value of the rappers he uses as props and signifiers

As I mentioned - I couldn't find anything else that was good by him - or similar.

And it's not "proper" Hip-Hop really is it? It's Pop music. One has to get one's head round that. It's a little like "Papa was a rolling stone" in many regards.

But as for being an abuse of signifiers? Lol. You're saying this black man is not allowed to use the work of other black men to make a point about racial injustice.

It's very similar to MIA in many regards but for me the key difference is the point he is making is absolutely 100% valid. It's not like he's dipping into subcultures to make some fragrant pot-pourri.

Amazing track. Seismic video (even if that has approached something of a consensus).

Postscript: It's the failing of Trap that it hasn't been able to produce something of this cultural power.

[Woebot]

Direct from the Motown hit factory.

[luka]

i dont think i do hate it. ive been loftily avoiding forming an opinion actually.

crowleys is a twitter take formed under an impossible (and distorting) weight of opinions.
it's hard to get heard out there.

[luka]

twitter is an evolutionary accelerator creating ever hotter takes

[luka]

woebot on the other hand is at that stage of life where men often feel obligated to push back against the hip
and the radical. it's a form of trolling from the opposite direction. dad trolling.

it's basically an argument between a father and his teenage son with neither occupying an entirely honest position.

[luka]

a large part of how anyone receives the song will depend on how they believe it to be positioned
in relation to hip-hop proper. is it sneering, mocking, is it a loving tribute, is it a more crafted artistic version of a crude template, is it just another mainstream rap video or whatever

[Woebot]

[luka]

ou're saying this black man is not allowed to use the work of other black men to make a point about racial injustice.

crowley is very explicitly saying gambino is not black enough.

[luka]

part of it stems from the schism between street rap and underground rap and all the positioning that took place round that initial break i guess. tossing round phrases like respectability politics and so on.

[luka]

blackness has a mythical resonance for people of all colours.

[luka]

it represents a whole host of often contradictory things for people. spirituality, resistance, rebel music, the outlaw, sexual potency, nobility in suffering, spontaneous joy, athletic prowess, physical beauty, so on and so forth

psychologically it's a mess...

[luka]

and im certainly not claiming to be immune or above any of this confusion myself. just pointing out what a mess it is.

[padraig (u.s.)]

You're saying this black man is not allowed to use the work of other black men to make a point about racial injustice

I understand Crowley to be referring to the entirety of the Gambino project as based entirely off signifiers from rap proper, rather than just this particular track

i.e. it's not that This is America is cynical posturing but that Glover wouldn't be in the position to make it w/o having leaned on rap proper + its signifiers for a decade

until recently he was making non-threatening rap (or whatever u wanna call it) that's whole thing was it's hyper self-awareness of its joke rap status making it kind of real. he is an interesting dude - I can't think of a real precedent for going from nerd outsider to serious (black) cultural figure. or Kanye is the obv one, but Glover has the self-awareness that Kanye seems to completely lack (unless u believe the fanboy theories that it's all a vast I'm Still Here performance art thing). probably partly a generational thing, but partly also not. the SNL performance was almost definitely referencing Kanye premiering "Black Skinhead", and I'm sure the 70s Al Green look (shirtless, tight pants, beard) is a highly conscious reference as well.

I have never been remotely interested in Glover's music - it makes me think of think of grumpy true school heads 10+ years ago complaining about people geeking out on Adult Swim backpack rap, but 1 million times worse - but this is pretty good + even if it's not a shattering revelation like people are making out this country can never have too many people making smart but unequivocal statements on race.

[padraig (u.s.)]

crowley is very explicitly saying gambino is not black enough.

or in short, this

safe to say until recently his work - musical, acting, etc - was about as deracinated as a black arist's in 2010s U.S.A. can be