The original idea for one of Childish Gambino‘s songs started as a diss of Drake. Gambino, whose real name is Donald Glover, revealed in a GQ interview he began working on “This is America” in 2015.
“The song started off as a joke, to be completely honest,” Gambino said. “This is America, that’s all we had was that line. … And it started as a Drake diss, to be honest as a funny way of doing it, but I was like, this s— sounds kind of hard, though. So let me play with it.”
Donald Glovers reveals his hit song “This is America” was originally a Drake DISS! 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/pNIvDr7lmc
— TheGMSshow (@TheGMSshow) April 4, 2023
The 2018 mega-viral music video featured background vocals from Slim Jxmmi, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Offset, Quavo and BlocBoy JB. The session with Young Thug, also listed as one of the song’s composers, was set up by fashion designer and underground Atlanta artist Reese Laflare.
“I was having sessions with like Thug and all these people and I was like, ‘Hey, would you want to get on this?’ ” Gambino said. “Making it like a ‘We Are The World’ for trap.”
Gambino said he and director Hiro Murai studied Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video to figure out how to create a mood and get people to care. He released it minutes after hosting “Saturday Night Live” while promoting Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Gambino’s music journey has been compared to Drake’s throughout his career because both artists were trying to advance their hip-hop quests after starring in popular TV shows. Gambino was on NBC’s “Community” and Drake was on “Degrassi.” In 2011, Gambino dropped his debut studio album Camp on the same day that Drake released Take Care.
On Camp’s single “Bonfire,” Gambino rapped, “I don’t talk soft, that’s that other guy.” In interviews, he brought up how people might have taken that as a Drake diss, and he wouldn’t confirm it, but he joked people can agree Drake is soft-spoken.
In 2014 at a live show in Australia, Gambino freestyled about how he doesn’t think he’s Drake because he sings and raps better.
The freestyle made headlines, and Gambino referenced it in his next mixtape, STN MTN, hosted by DJ Drama.
“On stage, yellin’ crazy s—,” Gambino rapped. “I was high, but I meant that s—.”
While Drake never directly addressed Gambino early in his career, some critics thought Drake copied Gambino’s idea of using an app during the live show of the 2014 Drake vs. Lil Wayne tour. Gambino was the first rapper to try the method in his Deep Web Tour.
In 2017, Drake posted a photo of Nineteen85 and Gambino and called them “very inspiring humans.” A few months later, Drake and Gambino posed for a photo together at an event.
Childish Gambino and Drake pic.twitter.com/w2KtI00rRW
— Ogre Time (@OgreTimeMusic) April 2, 2020
