WATCH: Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ gets SA spin
JOBURG – Childish Gambino's "This is America" gets a gqom spin.
American rapper, writer, actor and comedian, Donald Glover set the Internet abuzz when he dropped the music video for This is America last week.
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The music video has been lauded for its powerful imagery and lyrics which take a poke at America’s current social, cultural and political situation. Deadline Hollywood reported that the video has been viewed more than 110 million times in its first nine days — and was YouTube’s most-watched clip on each of the days.
Watch the Hiro Murai-directed video below:
The release of the video follows Donald Glover’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) appearance which saw Glover host SNL with his hip-hop alter ego, Childish Gambino as the musical guest.
Following the video’s release, a number of think pieces, reviews and analyses surfaced in attempts to break down the underlying messages in the critically acclaimed video. However, back in South Africa, individuals such as Twitter user @trapafasa put an interesting spin on This is America by lacing a gqom–influenced song over the video’s choreography.
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The video’s choreography features some gwara gwara–inspired moves and dancers clad in school uniform, reminiscent of Mbongeni Ngema’s Sarafina. The moves are in perfect synch with a DJ Finisher remix of Benny Maverick’s hit single Memeza and make you wonder ‘what if Childish Gambino was South African?’
Watch the Gqom edit of This is America below:
