Childish Gambino and John Guare: A Stab at Breaking Modern Day Stereotypes

John Guare, in his play Six Degrees of Separation, emphasizes the racial issues that have lasted beyond the Civil Rights movement. Similarly, actor, writer, and rapper Donald Glover, known as Childish Gambino, attempts to redefine common black stereotypes and highlight the racial problems black people still face in this Post-Civil Rights era through his unconventional and possibly revolutionary music. The picture above properly depicts Gambino as a black rapper who breaks the barrier between race and a certain clothing style. Gambino makes the same statement through his music: black people shouldn't be limited to certain realms. Despite the fact that black people now have equal rights, society still promotes wrongful stereotypes and sections black people into certain groups. Guare and Gambino both preach the problems of these societal ideals through their works.

John Guare

Nowadays society is obligated to "accept" black people. America's despicable past has forced white people to treat black people equally in order to not seem racist. However Guare and Gambino both show how blacks are still not treated equal. Dr. Fine from Six Degrees of Separation originally accepts and even admires Paul, yet when Fine believes that this black man has broken into his home he screams "this fucking black kid crack addict came into my office lying-" (Guare 66). Once the seal of trust was broken, Paul stopped being the preppy, wanna-be white kid and became the stereotypical low-life crack addict to Dr. Fine. Thus, Guare argues that if one gives a white man a single reason to think poorly of a black person, in this society the white man will take that opportunity.  Guare's pointing out of Post Civil Rights racism is mirrored in Gambino's music. In his song "Hold You Down," Childish tells us that

This one kid said somethin' that was really bad;
He said I wasn't really black because I had a dad.

and thus exemplifies the white view of real black people as family-less savages, and how in a situation like Gambino's, the man isn't even considered "black." Both Guare and Childish use the "white" black person as an example of how modern day racism works. Society will accept black people as long as they disenfranchise black culture and "act white."

 "Hold You Down" - Childish Gambino

The parents in Six Degrees of Separation are overjoyed to tell each other of their new black friend; they even seem to brag to over their acceptance. However through the Dr. Fine "crack addict" scene, Guare proves that acting not-racist is much different than being not-racist, which is also the argument Gambino makes in "Hold You Down." Gambino states that "you're not not racist cause The Wire's in your Netflix queue" to make the argument that watching shows about black culture doesn't mean that you truly value, understand, and accept all black people. In other words, pretending to be accepting doesn't make someone a good person, just as the Upper East Side residents' facade of acceptance doesn't make them the liberal-minded equality preachers they claim to be.

"The Wire" on HBO

Upper East Side Manhattan home

Through his style and music, Gambino attempts to break the black rapper/gangster stereotype and tries to revolutionize black rap as we know it. His stylistic and lyrical differences from your typical rapper like Tupac or Dr. Dre are obvious; while he often talks about sex, he rarely mentions drugs and never mentions crime or violence. He also has real instruments accompanying his music, and real musicians accompanying him when he performs live, instead of just a DJ and speakers. Gambino often writes about the problems he faces as a different black rapper. In his song "You Know Me," he claims that the hood thugs tell him to "stick to the right business and stop making rap music for these white kidses," showing that the black, gangster rap-lovers think he's appealing too much towards the prep-school white kids. The feeling is reciprocated from the opposite side however, and he makes that apparent in his song "That Power":

Staying on my me shit, but hated on by both sides
I’m just a kid who blowing up with my father’s name
And every black "you're not black enough"
Is a white "you're all the same"

Being half-black and half-white, Childish claims that he is "hated on by both sides" ; thus, he states that just as there are many blacks who think he isn't gangster and hood enough to rap, there are just as many white people who say that he isn't white enough to be a respectable musician. The difficulties of this middle zone that Gambino mentions are also exemplified in Six Degrees of Separation. While Guare doesn't give the readers any information of Paul's past in the play, the author does emphasize Paul's need for acceptance and "everlasting friendship," likely driven by the fact that he's a gay black man (99). It's not hard to fit into a well knitted, strictly defined group. However Paul doesn't fit into any group as a gay, black con-man. He's more of a freely drawn, "wild and vivid" Kandinsky painting rather than a "geometric somber" one (3). The point being, Paul, like Childish Gambino, struggles to fit in, and through this, Guare, like Childish Gambino, argues that society should be more accepting and freely drawn rather than restricting people into certain social categories.

"That Power"                          "You Know Me"

As mentioned before, Gambino revolutionizes rap by breaking the stereotype of the gangster rapper and by defying the racially exclusive groups. In his song "My Girls" from the mixtape I Am Just A Rapper, he raps

And niggas waiting on me, we didn't have a voice;
you used to have to act street and now you've got a choice.

in proof that he appeals to the black kids who would rather not associate with the thug lifestyle and would rather fit into a different, "whiter" group. Gambino asserts that he has given black people all over the nation "a choice" to be who they want to be. In his song "Both Hands," he even calls himself "a nigga off the chain" who "Abraham Lincoln'd" black culture by liberating the black kids who don't necessarily want to act thug. In the same sense that Paul liberates himself by, despite having no relation to white Upper East-Manhattaners, entering these people's lives on a personal level.

"My Girls"                          "Both Hands"

Childish Gambino and John Guare use their respective mediums to make an argument on racial issues in this Post Civil Rights era, and they both make similar arguments. In order to overcome these racial problems, one has to break the barriers that cause these problems. Gambino attempts to destroy the stereotypes of there only being white hipsters and of there only being thug black rappers. Through his play, Guare argues that people must overcome their unintentional but still racist mindsets and overcome the paralysis that holds them into their societal groups.

The black hipster Childish Gambino

Erykah Badu: Embracing the Messiness

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The Bluest Eye represents Toni Morrison's critique of race relations that have shaped history. Written in the height of the 60's 'Black is Beautiful' movement, the book has a unique perspective of the Depression-era social norms that came to define black individuals. Morrison's aim to deconstruct racism and the social norms that restrain individuals, finding the "how" rather than the "why," parallels R&B artist Erykah Badu in her aim to break free of stereotypes. Erykah Badu's brave embrace of her individuality, her 'messiness,' sets the standard for a new black women that will leave behind the racial self-loathing Morrison emphasizes.

The "Queen of Neo-Soul," Erykah Badu incorporates R&B, rap, soul, jazz and funk into her music. She has worked with artists as diverse as The Flaming Lips, The Roots and Sergio Mendez, virtually creating a unique genre of music that is more than a way of making a living, but a passionate cultural protest. Erykah Badu's incorporation of funk in many of her songs, most significantly in her song "Funk you Up (Love of My Life Remix)" ft. Queen Latifah and Angie Stone, adds to her image of embracing individuality. Historically funk referred to body odor, but with the 60's Civil Rights movement it came to represent an acceptance and pride of blackness. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison uses the binary aspect of racism to contrast the Geraldines of the world, who are committed to changing themselves to fit white beauty standards and be secure, with the funky individuals, perhaps the Claudias who must learn to embrae their 'defects.' Geraldine has learned "how to get rid of the funkiness. The dreadful funkiness of passion, the funkiness of nature, the funkiness of the wide range of human emotions" (83). It is this funk, the blackness and individuality, that Erykah Badu so admires in her music, even implicitly citing the original propagators of funk, Parliament Funkadelic, in this song. Singing

 Yeah, funk you up, we gon' funk you up
If you not ready, you better get yourself together               
We gon' funk you up, we gon' funk you up

Erykah Badu seems to call on P. Funk's line, "I want my funk uncut,... I wants to get funked up," emphasizing the impact the 'funk' had on history and racial identity.

In addition to her music, Erykah Badu physically embodies her protest against the accepted "scale of absolute beauty" (122). By leaving her hair natural, in an Afro, the singer rebels against the Geraldines of the world, the "they," Morrison writes about. These girls learn to restrain themselves physically to make themselves more white: "they hold their behind in for fear of a sway too free; when they wear lipstick, they never cover the entire mouth for fear of lips too thick, and they worry, worry, worry about the edges of their hair" (83). The Afro historically is one of the most powerful symbols of the Black is Beautiful movement, contrasting the straightening of hair that erases blackness and individual identity. Singing

This is how I look without makeup...
I got a little pot in my belly
So now a days my figure ain't so fly
My dress ain't cost nothin' but seven dollars
But I made it fly
And I'll tell ya why
But I'm clever when I bust a rhyme

Badu reinforces her idea of natural beauty - her body in all its biological glory. She even reinforces her pride in her talent for music, a talent that has come from years of hard work and love for music rather than a genetic gift.

Yet Erykah Badu goes farther than breaking the hair stereotype. The singer garnered attention and critique for her video "Window Seat," which portrays her walking along a crowded street in Dallas, stripping down to the nude until she is shot down. The powerful images, a two minute, one-take shot that earned her a fine and sixth months of probation, showcase how society punishes people for taking off their superficiality. The video cites indie duo Matt & Kim's video Lessons Learned, which also plays with physical beauty, one of the "most destructive ideas in the history of human thought" (122). By embracing herself in her most natural state, ignoring the idea of biological defects, Erykah Badu is even liberated on a sexual level. Geraldine, and by association the rest of the secure black girls playing white, sees sex as an obligation and restrains herself from enjoying it. Uncomfortable with nudity, Geraldine chooses to lift "the hem of her nightgown only to her navel," contrasting the freeing nudity Erykah Badu demonstrated in a crowded street. While the artist is not making her sexuality a point in the video, obviously not using her body to sell music, she is transcending the image of a woman as not just a sexual object but a confident individual. Erykah Badu ultimately has turned her 'defects', which biologically give her a unique appearance but environmentally have become another justification for social constructs of beauty and racism, into a protest.

"Window Seat" - Erykah Badu

Embracing individuality is a brave act, and has earned Erykah Badu plenty of criticism. In response to critiques of her hair, style, music and videos she writes:

"They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they don't understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual."

The "they" she refers to brings to mind the "they" Morrison uses in describing Geraldine. The power of the group leaves Geraldine with a (stereo)type she is content to fill, but with no voice. Assimilation gives security, but also immobility: "Their roots are deep, their stalks are firm, and only the top blossom nods in the wind" (82). This quote attacks the ease of assimilation, feeling "more comfortable" with the power in numbers. Erykah Badu's funky music, her dedication to natural beauty, and her desire for change help define her as an artist with a social conscience. She exemplifies the kind of change Toni Morrison expects from the black individual, paving the way for a new stereotype: the individual.