It starts off with a shirtless Gambino dancing through a warehouse, interacting with a series of chaotic scenes. The video contains many scenes involving violence. They're both reactions to what's happening in the world." He stated, "There's sort of a world-weariness in both this season and the music video. In an interview with the New York Times, Murai discussed his upcoming season for Atlanta, a show created by and starring Glover. The video received about 12.9 million views in 24 hours, and has over 800 million views as of November 2021. The music video was directed by Hiro Murai and released on YouTube simultaneously with Gambino's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live. In the music video, Gambino assumes a stance similar to the Jim Crow caricature Glover's manager, Fam Rothstein, denied any plagiarism. CBS News stated, "The tracks have a similar sound, and share similar themes in the lyrics." Harley stated that he felt "This Is America" was influenced by his song, but that he does not have an issue with it. Media outlets reported that a number of listeners accused Gambino of plagiarism over "This Is America", pointing out the similarities between the song and "American Pharaoh" by Jase Harley. Bryan Rolli of Forbes calls it "a vicious, urgent take on modern trap music, as Glover adopts the clipped, percussive flow of his contemporaries atop crackling 808s and rumbling bass." Pitchfork's Stephen Kearse described the song as a representation of the "tightrope of being black", with the song "built on the sharp contrast between jolly, syncretic melodies and menacing trap cadences". It also touches on the subject of police brutality and misconduct. The lyrics primarily address black culture in the United States and gun violence in the country. Young Thug returns to supply the song's outro. Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage and Quavo each deliver an ad-lib. The song features a gospel-style choir and background contributions from various American rappers. This made Gambino the first hip-hop artist to win Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and "This Is America" the first rap song to win these awards. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video. It has also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. "This Is America" became the 31st song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming both Gambino's first number one and top ten single in the country. The song's accompanying music video was directed by filmmaker Hiro Murai, a frequent Gambino collaborator. The song addresses the wider issue of gun violence in the United States, the high rate of mass shootings in the United States, along with other social issues that are presumed to be aftereffects of historically prevalent systemic racism and discrimination. The song features background vocals by American rappers Young Thug (who also has writing credit as Williams), Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, BlocBoy JB, Quavo of Migos, and 21 Savage.
Written by Glover, Ludwig Göransson, and Jeffery Lamar Williams, and produced by Glover and Göransson, it was released on May 5, 2018, at the same time that Gambino was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live. " This Is America" is a song by American rapper Donald Glover, under his musical stage name Childish Gambino.