Spike Lee and Childish Gambino: The Red Thread of Hip Hop in Cinema
This article explores the relationship between music and film within Black culture, highlighting a political journey from Spike Lee to Childish Gambino (Donald Glover). It opens with Norman Mailer's 1950s essay "The White Negro," which characterizes hipsters through the lens of African American jazz. The piece examines identity movements, from Malcolm X to modern expressions that influence Black self-perception. Notable references include the "Juneteenth" episode (season 1, episode 9) of Atlanta, where Earn likens a villa to Jordan Peele's Get Out, featuring drinks such as "Plantation Poison" and "Forty Acres and a Moscow Mule," nodding to Lee's production company. Additionally, it discusses Lee's opposition to D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and its ties to 1990s gangsta rap. This was published in Artribune Magazine #45 by Carlotta Petracci.
Key facts
- Norman Mailer's 1957 essay 'The White Negro' defined the hipster as an American existentialist.
- Malcolm X asked: 'Are you poor because you're Black, or Black because you're poor?'
- Atlanta episode 'Juneteenth' (season 1, episode 9) references Spike Lee and Get Out.
- Spike Lee's production company is named Forty Acres and a Mule, after the unfulfilled promise to freed slaves.
- Spike Lee protested D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation.
- Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power' appears in Do the Right Thing (1989).
- 1990s films Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society depict ghetto mythology.
- Childish Gambino's character Teddy Perkins in Atlanta compares rap to an adolescent phase.
Entities
Artists
- Spike Lee
- Childish Gambino
- Donald Glover
- Norman Mailer
- Malcolm X
- Jordan Peele
- D.W. Griffith
- John Singleton
- Hughes brothers
- Michael Jackson
- Public Enemy
- N.W.A
- Bill Nunn
- Carlotta Petracci
Institutions
- Forty Acres and a Mule
- Artribune Magazine
- White (agency)
Locations
- United States
- Atlanta
- Hiroshima