BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Gary Clark Jr. has created a lot of conversation with “This Land,” the provocative first song off his latest album that shares the same name.
In the angry blues-rock song, he recounts racial epithets hurled his way and other racist taunts before he defiantly asserts that he too is “America’s son.” In the accompanying video, young black children confront racist imagery, including a noose, among other disturbing things.
Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ Takes Over Top Box Office Spot With $70.3 Million Debut
Clark says the song was sparked after he sensed a change in his Austin, Texasneighborhood during the 2016 presidential election campaign between Hillary Clinton and eventual victor Donald Trump, and then a confrontation with a neighbor prompted him to write it.
“I would be driving home and I would see a lot more Trump signs than Clinton. Things in the news, there started to be conversation about — something shifted. I don’t know all of it. I’m not going to try and explain all of it, but you could see it in the news and what the narrative was. Having two young ones, it kind of made me concerned about what we were getting into,” said the 35-year-old musician.
Source: Gary Clark Jr. Is Confronting Racism With ‘This Land’
Recent Comments