First and foremost I know I am late. In social media time Childish Glover gyrating around a warehouse and shooting people happened like 2 years ago, I know yall, I know. The thing is when this video first came out a lot of people immediately contacted me like you HAVE to write about this. I was initially hesitant because ju and I know that before the video was even done 25 million think pieces were already written and uploaded to the Internets. That just ain't me.
When I started this blog I always knew I would have trouble writing about the viral content. What do I have to say that 400 other people don't? It’s a tricky game and it's not really my thing. But this video and the current climate around blackness, black men artists specifically, and what black men artists chose to be known for got me thinking.
One word I have been hearing floating around a lot in the last few weeks is -genius- . This word is used constantly in defense of people who “think out of the box” or do something that the basicas of the world deem as deep. I truly believe it is the most over and wrongly used word in the English language besides a Valley girl saying “like”. Can we stop giving people titles they don't deserve while still recognizing talent? Yo no se.
So this is the thing. One of the reasons Donald Gambinos video was so “relevant and important” was because of the context of the video. Prior to its release, Kanye also came out with a viral video. This video was of him telling TMZ that slavery was a choice. Considering the nature of Kanye's words, many of his loyal fans had to dip in the cut and mind they business knowing that even they couldn't defend their “genius”. Genius. The overused word that is attached to Kanye, and as well Childish. So here is my question, what does genius mean to yall? As talented as Kanye is what has he done that is so amazing, so wondrous that we must assume he is of a higher intellectual caliber than the rest of us average folk? What about that Childish video was so deep, so valuable that he must just understand the world in a way us mere mortals don't? I just don't get it.
Now don't get me wrong ol boy is extremely talented. He acts, sings, raps, writes for T.V., prolly can cook better than ya grandma and maybe even braids hair on the side. And truly the This is America video was entertaining at the least, thought provoking at most. His dancing, the cultural messages and timing was all there the perfect recipe for viral content. But I'm really not seeing the hype. I think he could have pushed the boundaries a lot more, for one by having non POC in the video and playing a little less on the “black people we must stop being entertainment to the world and we have to think more deeply” card. I also have followed his career for a while and his transformation from Asian women fetishing stand up kid to the most loved representative of the quirky but woke black men foundation.
See the world and “creatives” themselves put artists on a pedestal. In the same way that people tend to think those that speak in metaphors are more intelligent than those who can easily explain a point in plain speak, we tend to decide anything quirky or different is immediately associated with an IQ level. Which is why people don't quite know how to accept and understand Donald's message in this video. It's pretty intense considering who he actually is in real life.
Artist continue to grow as they achieve success, age and discover themselves just like the rest of us. When artists create content for us to consume it is only right that we create and share our opinions. However, it is important we don't project our opinions on the artist and we realize not everything is that deep. This prevents us from creating some extreme narrative to a storyline that might not be that complex in the first place.
Epilogue: When I was in 10th grade we had to read a book called the “metamorphosis”. It was about a man who wakes up as a cockroach and his life is ruined because of that experience… obviously. My teacher asked what the subliminal meaning of the book was. I answered with “maybe there is no subliminal meaning, must everything be some huge metaphor? Maybe the author is just fond of roaches and wanted to tell their story”...I was sent outside.
Just remember folk...everything is entertainment.
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