Austin Dickie Ms. Amero African Canadian Studies 11 26 May 2024 Childish Gambino & his Political Influence using Rap Music Donald Glover, born September 25, 1983, also known by his stage name Childish Gambino, is an American actor, comedian, singer, rapper, writer, director, artist, and producer. Glover got his stage name Childish Gambino from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator in 2008 (Murai). He became a sensation quite quickly in the music industry, he has released seventeen albums, and a plethora of singles, with almost all of them being extremely successful. Glover’s main focus isn’t necessarily on politics and problems with the world, but it’s definitely a big part of what he talks about and delves into in his music, his most notable pieces that focus primarily on social issues and politics are “This is America”, “Hold You Down”, and “Boogieman”. Through his lyrics about racism and western…show more content… “Hold You Down” discusses his own personal experiences with racism in school and neither fitting in with the black nor the white demographic. In part of his first verse he says, “Culture shock at barber shops ‘cause I ain’t good enough, We all look the same to cops, ain’t that good enough?” (Genius). Here, he touches on how he didn’t feel fully accepted by the African-American community, but how he still got lumped into the same group by police. Later in that verse - “White kids get to wear whatever hat they want, when it comes to black kids, one size fits all.” (Genius). Here, he is likely talking about the economic disparity between white families and black families, and how the system is set up in a way to support white people over black people in almost every way, especially financially. In the second verse, Glover says, “You’re not racist ‘cause The Wire’s in your Netflix queue, Subtle racism, it’s hard to pin it, ‘Cause you’d only understand if you were me for just a minute.”
