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Fresh off an outstanding SNL performance, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino has released his first video in a hot minute and it is brazen, unapologetic fire. Childish strides, dances and murders his way through a warehouse while rapping about, hinting at and alluding to the current state of America. At least that’s what it looks like on the surface. The tip of the iceberg, if you will. Allow Frantz and I unpack and explain.

Frantz: If you unfold the trauma and stupidity of what Kanye has said in the last month about Blackness in the Americas, you’d might see the tip of the iceberg of what “This Is America” brings to the table.

Off the bat, the guns come out quick – ‘cause this is ‘Murica: where gats got more rights than women for some reason. Director Hiro Murai and Donald Glover have created spellbinding collaborations before: Episodes of Atlanta plus the video for Gambino’s “Sober”, so we already knew this was gonna be fire. I didn’t see this coming.

There are these brilliant moments of juxtaposition; the straight up swag of Gambino getting it with the young people seconds after blasting a detained Black man through the dome. It’s doing the newest of social dances with the kids while someone jumps to their death in the background. It’s the beauty of a Black gospel choir and the horror of seeing them gunned down (after just hearing one of the Birmingham church bombers are up for parole). It’s the face changes; from trap ad-libs and black joy set so close to the blinding fear of being chased by your own country.

Important to mention: Every single time a gun shows up in this video, it is alongside the phrase, ‘This Is America’.

The visuals for “This Is America” is the thesis of right now: America as the post-modern, pseudo-post-racial wasteland of broken ideologies.

Ja-Quan: Bast, thank Frantz for that eloquent breakdown and phenomenal perspective. Off the rip, Childish is shirtless the entire video. Do you know how much bravado it takes to be one of the brightest minds in black entertainment and come for so many white viewers in this fashion? Do you know how a shirtless black man with 2 gold chainz on is perceived in Trump’s America? You better ask somebody, cuz I ain’t got the time.

Lyrically, we could spend days discussing each line, undertone and every implication possible. He drops poppin’ buzzwords (a whole verse where he says party 8x), and lit terms (get the bag, fitted, Gucci) used to draw you in as he cuts a rug with the dancers before another tragedy happens, only to be forgotten seconds later, cuz lit terms and dances. The cycle of violence and media coverage in our land of freedom.

Frantz touched on it earlier, but we really can’t find enough time to talk about the power behind that chorus and the lines that follow. ‘This is America, Don’t catch you slippin’ up, Don’t catch you slippin’ up, Look what I’m whippin’ up.’ At the same time that black men have to ensure that they’re not slippin’ up, they are simultaneously trying to stunt on ayebody. This the duality of life for us. I love the way Childish uses the term “Look what I’m whippin’ up” because everyone envisions their own version of fly shit. Some whip up more cash, some whip crack in a pyrex, some roll up in their new whip with the spinners on em cuz they’re still living in 2002. Ahh, happier times.

Gambino also makes sure to say “Don’t catch you slippin’ up” twice every single time. The fear of being gunned down by cops for living while black exists in the mind of every brother who has ever worn a hoodie, hung out in his yard, or watched the news, and he wants you to remember that.

After this season of Atlanta and this video right here, Donald Glover is officially untethered. “This is America” is sure to make some noise, so we keep our ears to the streets and see how the rest of the country reacts. Catch us on Twitter while it all unfolds.

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The post Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ Gives a Haunting Take On Our Country’s Toxic Cycle of Violence appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Kanye West’s recent inflammatory remarks implying that enslaved Africans remained in bondage by “choice” could end up costing his brand—big time. The so-called “free thinker” ignited a firestorm of outrage during a TMZ appearance on Tuesday when he said that 400 years of slavery “sounds like a choice,” denying the history of slave revolts and resistance.

TMZ producer Van Lathan fired back while scores of angry social media users mocked West’s claim in a series of snarky posts using the hashtag #IfSlaveryWasAChoice. West, however, doubled down on his remarks, tweeting that he was being “attacked for presenting new ideas” before later deleting the post.

(Twitter)

Radio personalities Shay Shay and BiGG of “The Morning Bounce” on 105.1 in Detroit took their anger a step further, announcing on Thursday a boycott of West’s music on their show. In addition, over 15,000 people are calling on Adidas to terminate their partnership with West, which manufactures his wildly popular Yeezy sneaker line.

“While Kanye can live safely in his multimillion-dollar castle, the rest of black America is continually marginalized and subject to unjust laws and treatment. Some even die because this behavior is so ingrained in our society,” reads a Care2 petition.

 

“Kanye West has a right to free speech, and he has the right to spout lies and misinformation and misplaced opinions—but we as consumers have the right to fight back against this type of dangerous propaganda.”

 

It adds: “Tell the world [Adidas does] not want anything to do with anyone who believes that millions of Africans chose to toil the fields in bondage.”

Yeezy Doesn’t Make or Break Adidas

We have 160 positions to fill by the end of the year. Yeezy will hit a billion dollars this year. It is the 2nd fastest growing company in history. It is a unicorn on its way to becoming a decacorn.

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018

Despite the petition and backlash, Adidas is standing behind the controversial rapper, who moved his pricey Yeezy brand under the umbrella of the sportswear giant in 2013. The success of the Adidas Yeezy Boost collaboration helped the athletic company steal market share from its biggest competitor, Nike Inc. Adidas also knocked Nike’s Jordan brand from the No. 2 spot in U.S. sports footwear in 2017. However, contrary to West’s claims that his sneaker line is the best thing to ever hit the market, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted made it clear that the Yeezys are just “a small part” of the $25 billion company.

Rorsted also stressed Adidas’ recent growth and support for Ye during an interview with Bloomberg TV  Thursday.

“Kanye and the Yeezy is a very important part for our brand, from a revenue standpoint less though, but it’s a very important part of how we promote our products particularly in the U.S. and other parts of the world.”

 

He added that Adidas’ first-quarter sales rose 10% at constant exchange rates. “At the same time, the brand Adidas grew last quarter in the U.S. 23%…So while Kanye is a very important part of the Adidas brand, Adidas is a large global company with a very, very strong presence around the world and will continue to perform well.”

Is Kanye West Ruining His Brand or Building a New One?

Although it’s easy to argue that West is sabotaging his own brand by alienating a large chunk of the population, at the same time, he’s also—consciously or subconsciously—expanding into a new market of consumers. For the past two weeks, West’s professed love for President Donald Trump and conservative commentator Candace Owens has been a rallying cry for the right. West has also received newfound praise on Fox News. Plus, recognizing the value and power of Ye’s brand, the GOP used a photo of West bragging about his “Make America Great Again” hat signed by Trump to sell more MAGA hats. But will that translate into sales for Ye’s music and fashion lines or alienate Kanye loyalists who’ve supported the artist in the past?

On the other hand, things didn’t go well for other black musicians who’ve publicly supported Trump in the past. For instance, Chrisette Michele suffered a major career setback after she aligned herself with 45 last year and ignored fans warning her not to perform at his inauguration. But, unlike dozens of other black singers who rejected Trump’s offer, Michele chose to sing at one of his inauguration events for $250,000. The soul singer later admitted that this decision severely hurt her image and led to her being dropped from her label.

Meanwhile, Tina Campbell, who’s known for being one half of the gospel duo Mary Mary, was forced to postpone her solo tour due to low ticket sales not long after she admitted that she voted for Trump in the 2016 election during an appearance on The Real.

West, who has considerably more clout than Michele and Campbell, could be up next. Kanye’s brand will be put to the test this weekend when he launches his new Yeezy x 2XU collection on Saturday. West has partnered with sportswear company 2XU, a high-tech fabric fashion line, to release the Yeezy’s Season 6 and Season 7 collections. The Yeezy x 2XU collection includes $400 shorts and $450 tights. Representatives of 2XU said West would not make any personal appearances for the launch.

Like West rapped in 2004, And when it all falls down, who you gon’ call now?

The post Kanye West: The Self-Sabotaging, Marketing ‘Genius’ appeared first on Black Enterprise.

You can tell we’re getting to the end of Once Upon a Time because the show is just doling out the reveals left and right. If there were another season in the fall, you could […]

The post Once Upon a Time Brings Back the Magic… and Time Travel appeared first on Geek.com.

The National Rifle Association is holding its annual meetings in Dallas this weekend, and one of the events on their schedule was their Women’s Leadership Forum Luncheon & Auction. Now, there’s a lot we could get into regarding the NRA’s (and the conservative media that uses the NRA as a talking point) relationship with women—how women like Dana Loesch and Tomi Lahren paint feminism as antithetical to gun ownership. Tami has done this repeatedly. Just yesterday, Loesch was pushing the idea that women had ruined the Boy Scouts by insisting on letting girls join, something that is just 100% factually inaccurate. So yes, there’s a lot to discuss when it comes to the NRA’s gender politics.

But any rational talking point has now been made entirely moot, because the featured speaker at that women’s event was Tucker Carlson. TUCKER. CARLSON.

Tucker Carlson, who told Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca she should “stick to [writing about] thigh-high boots” instead of politics after belittling her for writing for a website geared towards a young female readership.

Tucker Carlson, who later called Duca “mindless and nasty” as he was hurting for ratings.

This is the guy who claimed Democrats “made up the concept of sexual harassment.” His exact impression of sexual harassment was “‘You look great today.’ ‘Boom, I‘m charging you with a crime.’” What a total lack of awareness and empathy for what women experience in so many spaces, not the least of which is the place where Carlson himself works.

He suggested and outright stated time and time again that the only thing Hillary Clinton had going for her in the 2016 election was her gender–as if women have a leg up in pretty much any aspect of society. He also said women (specifically in regard to Clinton) are “more emotional” than men. Have none of these dudes seen Donald Trump say words or do literally anything? Talk about emotional.

He also thought that the number of female journalists covering Hillary Clinton’s campaign was “stacking the deck.” Funny how no one ever says that about male journalists writing about literally any male candidate ever.

All of this is, of course, ignoring Carlson’s incredible racism against immigrants, or against African Americans, or that time he said affirmative action is comparable to Jim Crow laws, or how he downplayed the dangers of neo-Nazis and the KKK months after Charlottesville and said that the real villains are people talking about neo-Nazis and the KKK.

So, happy luncheon, I guess, women of the NRA. If this is what you feel good about, then I’m happy to have to spend less time trying to figure out why you are the way you are. Clearly, this is the upside down, and nothing means anything.

(via Media Matters, image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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