A Rhetorical Analysis Of This Is America

On May 5, 2018, Atlanta rapper Childish Gambino released a video for his new song titled “This is America.” The video featured not-so-subtle commentary on the current gun debate in the United States and began trending quickly. Many began to wonder if a song with this much political weight could make it past the viral stage and hold its own on the music charts. One of those inquiring was Chris Molanphy, a journalist for Slate.com who often writes about popular music. He makes the claim that this song is “one of the most lyrically daring [Billboard] Hot 100 No. 1 in history.” In his article, “‘This is America,’ the Video, Is a Smash. Will the Song Have Legs?,” Molanphy uses diction, ethos, and analogy to argue that Gambino’s “This is America”

His analysis of the video and song seem more akin to a movie critic’s review of the next Quentin Tarantino film. He comments, “the video...is daring, provocative, traumatizing, cynical,... and to many, a work of genius.” This jarring examination seems relatively out of place for a song in the number one spot on the radio. One could attribute this simply to shock value, but Molanphy sees (or hears) something more when he acknowledges, “When you focus on [the] music, you gradually adjust to what initially makes it so jarring, particularly the lurch from the the sweet, acoustic Afrobeat intro to the droning, brooding chorus.” Incidentally, the song is much more than Gambino’s “cri de coeur” as Molanphy puts it, as it stands alone as a legitimate piece of hip-hop music. Paired with the video, the dark commentary does not seem so out of place when you recognize the history of rap music and its influences. He recognizes this best when he uses ethos to increase his

As someone whose job it is to write about music, their analysis and experience should be taken into account among other things. He brings this up in the article to point to the fact that he had to look back on other points like this in history to see how a song like this could perform so well and consistently. Surprisingly, for someone who delves into number one hits regularly, there was not a time that paralleled Gambino’s situation. This strengthens his argument for the “unprecedented” territory. He goes on to interpret the data and finds even more extraordinary feats, including the fact that the video is one of the main reasons for its number one spot. However, while the video got it to number one, it is streams without the video that are keeping it there, Molanphy notes. Along with the data, he also looks into the song and picks apart parts which he feels resonates with listeners. These include the triple entendres and the melodies featured (but uncredited) artists, such as Young Thug, provide. By addressing these topics, the author's credibility increases and allows more latitude to be given when making his