Peak
1
Weeks
17
Score
2,934
Chart Year
2018
Scores & Rankings
Chart Performance
Peak Position1
Peak DateMay 19, 2018
Weeks at Peak2
Weeks Charted17
Weeks in Top 4010
Weeks in Top 105
Weeks at #21
Weeks at #12
Scoring
Summary Calc1,449
Weekly Calc1,485
Total Score2,934
Rankings
Year Ranking#65
Decade Ranking#657
Billboard Year#67
Top 5000#4,070
Details
- Album
- Single
- Label
- RCA Records
- Genre
- Hip hop
- Composer(s)
- Donald Glover;Ludwig Göransson;lJeffery Lamar Williams
- Entered Chart
- May 19, 2018
- Peak Date
- May 19, 2018
- Released
- May 6, 2018
- Recorded
- Unknown
- Catalog #
- mcDJ/Wolf + Rothstein
Music Video
The music video was directed by Hiro Murai and released on YouTube simultaneously with Gambino's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live. The video received about 12.9 million views in 24 hours,[23] and has over 900 million views as of April 2024.[24] In an interview with the New York Times, Murai discussed his upcoming season for Atlanta, a show created by and starring Glover. He stated: "There's sort of a world-weariness in both this season and the music video. They're both reactions to what's happening in the world."[25] The video contains many scenes involving violence. It starts off with a shirtless Gambino dancing through a warehouse, interacting with a series of chaotic scenes. According to Murai, the video was inspired by the films Mother! and City of God. Prettyman states "The video tests us, taunting us to keep pace as we try to decode every gesture and calculation".[26] Choreographed by Sherrie Silver, Gambino and his entourage of young dancers perform several viral dance moves including the South African Gwara gwara and "Shoot" popularized by BlocBoy JB, who is one of the ad-lib contributors on the song. Gambino's dancing is contrasted against moments of violence. Only 53 seconds into the video, Gambino shoots a man in the back of the head with a handgun, while assuming a comical stance similar to a Jim Crow caricature. The first person depicted as being shot in the video, a guitarist who had been accompanying Gambino's singing up to that point, was musician Calvin the Second. This first shooting also marks a transition in the music, from an African "folk-inspired melody" to "dark, pulsing trap".[27] At a later point, Childish Gambino uses a Kalashnikov patterned automatic weapon to gun down a church choir. Childish Gambino shooting a church choir in the music video, which is largely inspired by the 2015 Charleston church shooting, received general controversy by the media. In both scenes a child appears from off-screen holding a red cloth, on which Gambino gently lays the weapon used, while the bodies are simply dragged away. A group of children in school uniforms joins Gambino in dancing, only to panic and scatter when the music imitates the sound of gunfire and Gambino positions his arms as if firing a gun, after which he lights a joint. Other schoolchildren are seen on a catwalk above, using their cell phones to record the chaos happening in the video as Gambino sings the lyrics "This a celly / That's a tool". Martha Tesema, writer for website Mashable, stated that "cell phones have been used as tools to broadcast police shooting, rioting against, or choking black people in this country". The word "celly" might also be a reference to a prison cell, making the line a reference to the disproportionate incarceration of black Americans.[original research?] Throughout the video, numerous vehicles from several decades ago are featured, many of them with their hazard lights flashing and the driver's side door ajar. American singer SZA makes a cameo appearance towards the end of the video, seated atop one of these vehicles. The video ends with Gambino in a darkened portion of the warehouse, fearfully running towards the camera while being chased by several white people. The dance moves were choreographed by Rwandan-born Sherrie Silver based on various African dances such as the Ghanaian Azonto, Nigerian Shoki, and the South African Gwara gwara, as well as gyration or walking moves from Angola and Ivory Coast
Notes
"This Is America" is a song by American rapper Childish Gambino. Written by Gambino, Ludwig Göransson and fellow American rapper Young Thug (who provides additional vocals) and produced by the former two, it was released on May 6, 2018, at the same time that Gambino was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live. The song also features backing vocals from fellow American rappers Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, BlocBoy JB, Quavo of Migos, and 21 Savage.[4][5] The lyrics and accompanying music video, reflecting the core of the Black Lives Matter movement, confront issues of ongoing systemic racism, including prejudice, racial violence, the ghetto, and law enforcement in the United States, as well as the wider issues of mass shootings and gun violence in the United States.[6] The song's accompanying music video was directed by filmmaker Hiro Murai, a frequent Gambino collaborator.[7][8] "This Is America" became the 31st song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming both Gambino's first number one and top ten single in the country. It has also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video. This made Gambino the first hip-hop artist to win Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and "This Is America" the first rap song to win these awards
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go away We just wanna party Party just for you We just want the money Money just for you (yeah) I know you wanna party Party just for free Girl, you got me dancin' (girl, you got me dancin') Dance and shake the frame (yeah) We just wanna party (yeah) Party just for you (yeah) We just want the money (yeah) Money just for you (you) I know you wanna party (yeah) Party just for free (yeah) Girl, you got me dancin' (girl, you got me dancin', yeah) Dance and shake the frame (ooh) This is America Don't catch you slippin' now Don't catch you slippin' now Look what I'm whippin' now This is America (woo) Don't catch you slippin' now Don't catch you slippin' now Look what I'm whippin' now This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo) Don't catch you slippin' now (ayy) Look how I'm livin' now Police be trippin' now (woo) Yeah, this is America (woo, ayy) Guns in my area (word, my area) I got the strap (ayy, ayy) I gotta carry 'em Yeah, yeah, I'ma go into this (ugh) Yeah, yeah, this is guerilla (woo) Yeah, yeah, I'ma go get the bag Yeah, yeah, or I'ma get the pad Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like, yeah (yeah) I'm so dope like, yeah (woo) We gon' blow like, yeah (straight up, uh) Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody You go tell somebody Grandma told me Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Black man This is America (woo, ayy) Don't catch you slippin' now (Woo, woo, don't catch you slippin', now) Don't catch you slippin' now (ayy, woah) Look what I'm whippin' now (Slime!) This is America (yeah, yeah) Don't catch you slippin' now (woah, ayy) Don't catch you slippin' now (ayy, woo) Look what I'm whippin' now (ayy) Look how I'm geekin' out (hey) I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo) I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci) I'm so pretty (yeah, yeah) I'm gon' get it (ayy, I'm gon' get it) Watch me move (blaow) This a celly (ha) That's a tool (yeah) On my Kodak (woo, Black) Ooh, know that (yeah, know that, hold on) Get it (get it, get it) Ooh, work it (21) Hunnid bands, hunnid bands, hunnid bands (hunnid bands) Contraband, contraband, contraband (contraband) I got the plug in Oaxaca (woah) They gonna find you like "blocka" (blaow) Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody America, I just checked my following list, and You go tell somebody You mothafuckas owe me Grandma told me Get your money, Black man (Black man) Get your money, Black man (Black man) Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Get your money, Black man (get your—Black man) Black man (1, 2, 3, get down) Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody You go tell somebody Grandma told me, "Get your money" Get your money, Black man (Black man) Get your money, Black man (Black man) Get your money, Black man (Black man) Get your money, Black man (Black man) Black man You just a black man in this world You just a barcode, ayy You just a black man in this world Drivin' expensive foreigns, ayy You just a big dawg, yeah I kenneled him in the backyard No probably ain't life to a dog For a big dog
Chart History (17 weeks)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 19, 2018 | 1 | 125 |
| 2 | May 26, 2018 | 1 | 125 |
| 3 | Jun 2, 2018 | 2 | 124 |
| 4 | Jun 9, 2018 | 4 | 122 |
| 5 | Jun 16, 2018 | 7 | 119 |
| 6 | Jun 23, 2018 | 12 | 114 |
| 7 | Jun 30, 2018 | 17 | 109 |
| 8 | Jul 7, 2018 | 24 | 102 |
| 9 | Jul 14, 2018 | 50 | 76 |
| 10 | Jul 21, 2018 | 39 | 87 |
| 11 | Jul 28, 2018 | 40 | 86 |
| 12 | Aug 4, 2018 | 45 | 81 |
| 13 | Aug 11, 2018 | 52 | 74 |
| 14 | Aug 18, 2018 | 80 | 46 |
| 15 | Aug 25, 2018 | 88 | 38 |
| 16 | Sep 1, 2018 | 95 | 31 |
| 17 | Sep 8, 2018 | 100 | 26 |