This Is America

This politically charged anthem finds Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) addressing the police brutality, gun violence and racism that continued to ravage America in 2018. Written and produced by Glover and his longtime collaborator Ludwig Göransson, The song was released on May 6, 2018, at the same time Glover was both host and musical guest on that day's episode of Saturday Night Live.

"This Is America" was born as a jokey Drake diss track. According to Donald Glover, he pitched the idea to director Hiro Murai three years before they finally worked on it. "I told Hiro the idea, and he's like, 'I really want to do that,'" he said in a video accompanying a GQ interview in which the actor/rapper broke down his most iconic roles. Glover said the song initially began as a humorous way of taking shots at Drake, but as he started playing around with the concept, he realized it had the potential to be something powerful. The inspiration for "This Is America" came from the Black Lives Matter protests that were happening at the time, and Glover wanted to create a trap version of "We Are The World." The supposed beef between Glover and Drizzy originated at a 2014 Australian gig when he said his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino, was better than Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and ScHoolboy Q combined. Gambino later clarified that it was all in good fun and he has since become friends with Drake.

Throughout the song, there are ad-libs sprinkled in the background from noted Black Atlanta artists 21 Savage, Quavo, Slim Jxmmi and Young Thug. The latter returns to supply the song's outro.