Speaking of the turn up, there’s a lot of awesome dancing in this clip. Gambino, surrounded by a number of younger kids, hits everything from Blocboy JB’s now-iconic shoot dance to the gwara-gwara, which hits even closer to home when you realize that the kids dancing with him appear to be dressed in the school uniforms that South African children wear. This symbolism speaks to how folks will stay scrolling timelines, searching for the perfect meme or commenting on the latest songs, consuming distractions while the world around us burns, figuratively and literally. It’s hard to tell if this is ignorance to what really matters or a coping mechanism and escapism from the fuckery of everyday life, but it’s definitely something that Gambino touches on in this video. Many are also seeing Gambino’s performance as a way to dance in the face of the oppressors.
This Is America Childish Gambino Meanings
Now, while all of this is going on in the forefront, there’s a ton of chaos erupting in the background. There are fires, people rioting, and a bunch of cars that look at least 20 or 30 years old (remember, Castile was killed in his ’97 Oldsmobile). There’s even a hooded figure riding a white horse, which could be a reference to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which anyone up on their Bible knows is a reference to the end of the world in the Book of Revelation. According to the Word, the first horse was a white one.