sammyate

[sammyate]

The Carter's Apesh*t Reaction

Hey Atc supporters,

It's your girl Cierra here. SammyAtc writers have officially decided to do a second blog series constructed with all three of its’ writers due to the complexity of this song similar to Childish Gambino’s This is America. We may all have different perspectives and information as it relates to the music video and song lyrics. So, we want to ensure that you all can see this piece of art and the various pieces of art within the video for its variety of meanings.  

The Carter’s Apesh*t music video has a variety of meanings, symbolism, and possible allusions. My initial response to the video was that it had alluded to the Illuminati conspiracy due to the camera zooming in on specific aspects of art pieces and also capturing someone squatted with huge “Angel-like” wings at the beginning of the video. However, after watching the music video several times, I grasped different perspectives each time. For instance, a few of the cultural and historical references that I came across dealt with black love, black power or wealth, and black unity also were perceived throughout the video. The Carters were able to depict black unity and address social injustices occurring in America by referencing kneeling in response to the National Anthem within the NFL, Jay-Z also mentions how he refused a Superbowl appearance in respect to Kaepernick and the conflict with the NFL.

Additionally, the two artists also depict and rap lines which refer to black love and power. Beyoncé and Jay-Z are both very wealthy and influential artists, the usage of a number of paintings and sculptures to depict such power, for example, the Napoleon and also the Mona Lisa painting. Napoleon was an infamous leader, who was known for colonization, maybe Beyoncé was alluding to The Carters having a worldly impact or influence/power. As for the Mona Lisa painting, it is a very powerful and historic painting with very high status, I believe that the Carters spent much of their time in the forefront of the painting to compare their power and prestige to Mona Lisa’s. However, Beyoncé and Jay-z also turned and acknowledged her presence, maybe to show their appreciation.

Napoleon painting in background:

Mona Lisa:

This piece of artistry similar to Childish Gambino’s This is America REQUIRES multiple analysis because the videos and lyrics both have very symbolic and subliminal messages. - Cierra Roberts

____________________________________________________________

The Carters are considered one of the most powerful music groups next to Sonny and Cher, Ike and Tina Turner, and many more. From the start of their careers they have influenced many people to go after their dreams. Most of the songs that they make consist of themes such as love and empowerment. The Carters made the video Apesh*t to show how people are strong and passionate in many ways.

    In Apesh*t, the video featured Beyoncé and Jay-z in the Louvre. The Louvre is the largest museum in history of about 72,735 square meters. It has maintained existence ever since 1793. Although the museum closed in 1796 for structural problems, the Louvre still remains the most visited museum ever known. Beyoncé and Jay-z place themselves amongst some of the most culturally significant pieces of art in history.    

 These works of art are very important. They are still looked as historical figures. Considering the fact that people still look at art pieces like the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, they are still important in the present. Since Beyoncé and Jay-z are other cultural influences, they are just as important to reflect on in the present. - Chinweuba Aninta

______________________________________________________________

              In the video of APESH*T, show them living out some of these visions of gander together. Also, in APESH*T, when they were sitting in Paris’s louvre Museum and rife with centuries- old images of conquest. Also, they were men and women who populate the video. In the video men were showing their graceful and women showing both matronly and aggressive. In the video APESH*T females dancers lying on the stairs beneath the due resemble a foundation, lifting up the Carters with pulse like movements. At times, the dancers formation calls to mind a spine. Later in APESH*T a painting of a crying women clinging from below to man in anguish. Then the man leaning his head peacefully on the chest of a woman as she holds him.

       Finally, I think Jay Z and Beyoncé did a fantastic jab on APESH*T and it is one of the best videos I have ever seen. What I like of APESH*T is teaching you love and marriage are not easy. And every couple has gone through it or will go through it somehow. - Marwan Saleh

Below is the link with the music video:

[sammyate]

Blog Entry # 1: Childish Gambino’s “This is America”

Hey lovely readers,

For today’s blog, we’ll have all three of Sammyatc’s bloggers, Cierra Roberts, Marwan Saleh, and Chinweuba Aninta, give their take on Childish Gambino’s newest hit, This is America. This artist is brilliant when figuring out how to capture such moments, it was imperative that we all narrate in a snippet what this video meant for us, individually.

This is America song is talking more about guns, violence, and racism. In the video a man strumming a guitar along to choral sounds. Within the first minute, Childish shoots the poor man. And after that, he gave a gun to another man. Then a group of kids showed up dance.

In the middle of the video, a choir sings enthusiastically in happy tone before he shoots them all. As we consume violence on all sorts of platforms, through music videos, television shows it becomes difficult to absorb very real instances of mass murders. The style of dancing by Childish calls out the way consume culture. It is a commentary on how much violence and kills there are in the consuming of pop culture.

Final moments of the video shows Childish running away from a group of young people who are trying to kill him. In my opinion, the video was great and give you an idea about a lot of things.  - Marwan Saleh

America has been a lie since the very beginning. It was built on the concept of freedom and the unalienable rights granting all to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though violence and racism in America have gone down and taken more subtle forms since, say, the Jim Crow era they are still very much a major part of this country as if woven into the fabric of our society. Childish Gambino in his song “This is America” does an amazing job of ripping away the sheet and exposing the monsters beneath with an accompanying music video rife with visual symbols and allegories.

In a more subtle way, Childish Gambino does a great job distracting people from the ruckus in the background. Throughout the video, he is seen dancing with children in the foreground, while the landscape of the background is riots, destruction, police imagery, and possible allusions to a coming apocalypse. While people are distracted by recent pop culture trends and media, a state of violence and disarray rages on around us.

The issue of gun violence is a prominent feature in this song. Gunshots are heard throughout the song, each sound emphasizes the most violent incidents year after year.  At the beginning of the song, Gambino makes a mockery of the dance of Jim Crow in reference to 1828. He engages us in a very fun way until he shoots Guitarist Calvin The Second, who is misidentified by many as Trayvon Martin’s Dad from behind. - Chinweuba Aninta

Childish Gambino’s This is America highlights ample societal issues which circulates within the United States of America. He captures police brutality and corruption, the aftermaths of innocent shootings, riots, how the citizens of America react to such acts, and more. Just to list a few Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino emphasizes on political, historical, and biblical content with his music video.

For starters, he references the church shooting that occurred in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. This event was one of which a white man shot up a church full of African Americans, killing nine individuals. Then he basically exploits President Donald Trump and The NRA for their idea of gun control, Childish Gambino illustrates how guns are treated with more respect than black lives in America. In the video, the guns are taking with towels and treated with grace meanwhile the bodies of blacks are dragged from the streets after being killed.

But have you ever just sat and wondered… “why is it taking place in a warehouse?” Yep, me too! So, this particular warehouse symbolizes the foundation of America, supported by the white beans (poles) but in other words maybe the white people. This statement is not entirely true because America was definitely built on the backs and from the hard work of former slaves, natives, and immigrants. America may have continuously supported white America but it wasn’t solely white America, who kept the foundation a foundation.

Lastly, there is some biblical content to the video, the white horse, and the man dressed as the Grim Reaper symbolizes that death is coming. In addition to depicting such, he is able to also capture the desensitization of bystanders and other citizens to violence occurring in our communities. Everyone is taking photos and videos of incidents occurring instead of being active in assisting. - Cierra Roberts

If you have yet to see the music video, I would suggest you get prepared for an eye-opener and to watch it a number of times in order to grasp much of the content. You will not be disappointed! Catch you later, Sammyatc.

[sammyate]

Greetings

Good Afternoon everybody,

My name is Chinweuba Aninta and I’m here on behalf of KMCC to introduce you to our team. Throughout the day we plan to expand on many contents such as entertainment, violence, culture, and history through many literary forms.