It appears the people of the United States have chosen Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” as their protest songs of choice.
According to Forbes, Gambino’s song, which debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2018, jumped from No. 97 to No. 2 on the U.S. Spotify chart this week, amassing 1.117 million streams. K. Dot’s “Alright” off of his critically-acclaimed album, 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, returns to the chart at No. 11, with a total of 752,836 streams. This should come as no surprise given the global protests spurred by the unnecessary murder of George Floyd and years of deaths like his at the hands of police.
Both songs give very different takes on being black in America: Gambino’s track finds him rapping about gun violence in our country while Kendrick’s song features lyrics pertaining to black optimism in the face of centuries of adversity.
Both songs won Grammy Awards: In 2018, “This Is America” nabbed the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video honors, while “Alright” won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 2016 ceremony.