Donald Glover reveals ‘This Is America’ was originally a ‘Drake diss’ track
nypost.comtold GQ in a new video feature about his “most iconic” characters. “As like, a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, ‘This shit sounds kinda hard, though.’ You know?
So I was like, ‘Let me play with it.'”After adding more elements to the song, the 39-year-old multi-hyphenate realized it was too good to waste on hip-hop’s “Certified Lover Boy.” So, the double Emmy-winning star and creator of FX’s “Atlanta” laid the diss track to rest and transformed the song into a cultural anthem during 2018’s “uprising and riots that were happening.”He wanted the song to feel like a “‘We are the World,’ for like trap [music],” Glover said.Glover worked with director Hiro Murai to develop the acclaimed “This Is America” music video by studying Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video and the dance moves of singer Robbie Williams.The duo “studied how that became iconic” and decided to replicate those elements in the music video by shooting the music video on film, with two takes for most of the scenes.The “Redbone” singer also revealed that had the initial idea for “This Is America” three years before releasing the single: “Time is the oven that makes something special,” he said.The result: A track that scored four 2019 Grammys, for Best Song, Best Music Video, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Record of the Year. (Glover already had a 2018 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Redbone.”)Glover’s intricate process also paid off when the song debuted at No.
Read more on nypost.com