"This is America" by Childish Gambino, the musical alter-ego of actor Donald Glover, is getting a huge reaction on social media after the music video packed full of cultural images debuted while he hosted "Saturday Night Live," CNN reported.
Filmed in a warehouse, Glover danced shirtless as images depicting themes of police brutality, gun violence, and social media swirl around him, according to CNN. Glover's dancing was taken from a Jim Crow-style caricature, used as a distraction from the video's chaos, the network noted.
The official video has gone viral, viewed more than 18 million times on YouTube since its Saturday release.
"'This Is America' is first-rate Childish Gambino music: melodic hiphop heavily influenced by Prince’s brand of funk-pop," wrote Yahoo Entertainment critic Kent Tucker. "The crisp beat and frequently cheery melody lines form a sharp contrast to the pointed lyrics. In precisely the same way, the visuals of the video contrast happy entertainment with nightmarish violence and fear."
Aja Romano, of the liberal website Vox, wrote that Glover appeared to make references in the video to "a number of recent flashpoints involving police brutality, white supremacy, and racialized violence: the lynching of black men; the Charleston shooting; the Black Lives Matter protests. 'I'mma go into this,' he sings, even as he clearly seems fed up with the entire conversation around gun violence, race, and, policing in America."
Not everyone on social media was thrilled with the video.
Some, though, love it.
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