#reneposting

adding a cut because theres a lotDIUCBNDI

(cw: i’m going to be talking about childish gambino’s ‘this is america’ and also residente’s ‘this is not america’ and all the themes/points they bring up so. keep that in mind !!)

i think. that residente’s reaction (<-- this is in spanish btw) to childish gambino’s ‘this is america’. was unfair. 

like, i 100% understand where he was coming from, and i get that it’s frustrating when people refer to the u.s. as “america,” because america encompasses two entire continents, and i get why he’s angry and annoyed at the fact that the world treats usamerican music (and like. just western music in general) like it’s the pinnacle of human existence. and he was right when he said that the world would’ve like, lost their fucking minds if someone like childish gambino or kendrick lamar dropped an album like the one residente did in 2017, but because it was an album in a “lesser” language, by an artist from a latam country, no one outside of latam really gave a shit. (i am. exaggerating a little bit here, residente has like. 20 something grammy’s lmao, but the point of this conversation was not that he deserved more hype than he got, but that other extremely talented artists from "third world countries” will never get to the same level of hype and fame that artists from the west do, and that those western artists will never give them the time of day either, simply bc they are not from a wester country)

anyways. i get that. i understand his point. i just also think that it’s a bit unfair to criticize childish gambino’s ‘this is america’ for all of those things instead of literally anyone else.

and i understand why he used that specific video, i really do! again, it’s frustrating to have someone (essentially) make a video about america and only talk about/reference events that have happened in the united states. 

BUT. i think that residente saying that the points gambino brings up in ‘this is america’ is not something that’s unique to the united states, and residente saying that violence and abuse of power is universal,,,misses the point??

like, maybe i would’ve agreed more if the artist had been white, but i feel like it’s stupid to say that the thesis of ‘this is america’ is universal when it’s literally talking about the united states’ history of anti blackness and violence against black americans. 

and like, anti-blackness is universal and NOT just a usamerican problem, but it’s stupid to watch ‘this is america’ and go. hm. but how can i make this about MY people. ya know? (that’s not to say that afro-latines don’t exist, i’m just saying that ‘this is america’ is a song about race and specifically, about black usamericans. ‘this is not america’ is a song that’s ultimately about class struggle, although it does talk a lot about colonization and the erasure of indigenous cultures in latam.)  

and residentes’ ‘this is not america’ brings up really good fucking points!!!! it does!!! it’s such a good video and it references a bunch of important moments in latam history + is essentially a refusal to back down in the face of colonization and capitalism, etc. etc.