Childish Gambino, or Donald Glover to others, has just released a new video entitled “This is America,” covering issues such as racial prejudice, gun violence and desensitization. In its first week, the video received a total of 85 million views on YouTube, reaching No. 1 on trending. As of now it has received almost 170 million views. The video itself has received a lot of controversy for its violent and somewhat disturbing scenes. The song and accompanying video has blown up — not for its music – but for the ways it adheres to America’s tangled history with race and gun violence.

One of the first things the video shows is a white, empty hanger. The music is peaceful, almost equivalent to a church choir like atmosphere. The only thing on the screen is a man, Calvin C. Winbush II, playing the guitar. However, the peaceful scene is quickly replaced by violence as Gambino shoots the man, sporting a famous move seen in most Jim Crow law posters of an exaggerate black man. In the aftermath of the shooting, the gun is treated like a jewel while the body is dragged off frame and the first words of the song are spoken “this is America.” This type of symbolism is used throughout the entirety of the video, depicting, in Gambino’s eyes, America’s care for guns as opposed to their care for humans.

Gambino himself has not commented on the impact of the  video.

“Some friends have sent a couple (of the think pieces), but, for real, I haven’t been on the Internet since (it dropped),” Gambino said on the talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “It’s bad for me. I’m really sensitive.

“I see one negative thing, and I track that person down. I go to their Instagram and be like, ‘You’re not so great. That baby’s not even that cute!”‘

The video has even sparked attention for other social issues. Youtube Nicole Arbour remade the video with a feminist twist entitled “This Is America: Women’s Edit.” Like the original, it is set in a plain white warehouse and reflects on equal pay and sexual harassment. However, even that has aroused negative attention.

“This is America was special because of its subtlety, and how much thought was put into each part,” Yesha Callahan said in an article on The Grapevine. “This video removes all of that to just be a loud declarative statement about something that has little to do with the original…”