So far, 2018 has been a very eventful year for a lot of unfortunate reasons. Mainly for shootings, terrorist attacks, ghate crimes and other forms of violence. However none of these problems are being dealt with properly. This may be because a war on violence seems futile considering there has always been violence and there will always be violence in our society. But in many other ways, these problems aren’t being dealt with because quite simply, they are being ignored. People do not want to think about the atrocities going on in our world and rather choose to escape into such distractions as rap music and viral videos. So how does one address this to the world? In a viral rap video of course.

On May 5, rapper, actor and comedian Donald Glover (“Childish Gambino”) released the music video for a song called “This Is America.” It currently sits at a record breaking 119.5 million views and opened at No. 1 at the Billboard Hot 100. While the song itself delivers Glover’s usual blend of trap music, it truly shines in its music video. Through the whole video, the vocal point of attention seems to be Glover rapping and dancing while utter chaos (which is sometimes caused by Glover) happens in the background. This is meant to represent that the American people choose to ignore disaster in favor of shallow fads such as dances and rap songs. The video also features references to shootings, racism and other issues.

The video’s endless analyzations and countless views made it an instant phenomenon. While music typically does not necessarily provide a direct change to culture, it has brought about awareness to certain social issues. And hopefully this awareness brings about reform that paves the way for a more peaceful and equal country.