Puerto Rican rapper Rene Perez, also known as Residente, returns with the French-Cuban musical duo Ibeyi to tell the history of Latin America’s struggles with corruption, violence, United States imperialism and police brutality. The title of the song refers to Childish Gambino’s 2018 single “This Is America,” focusing on racial violence and gun problems in the United States. Residente’s “This is Not America” is challenging the meaning of “America” to identify as a continent and not just a country.
The inspiration for the song comes from the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar’s LED screen display from 1987, exhibiting a pixelated image outlining the United States map displaying the message “This is Not America.” Residente, conveying the same message, used Jaar’s image to begin his music video, clearly setting the tone and message throughout his video.
The song kicks off with the sound of drums and a choir that provides a suspenseful rhythm, which is similar to his other songs. The tune is maintained consistently and slowly building to the outro of the song. Residente’s rap flows smoothly with the prominent sounds of the drums, expressing a fierce tone. The chorus led by the duo Ibeyi, with distinctive voices and the increasing intensity of the drums, makes the song perfect to lead a protest. The song is authentic to the rapper, known for his poetic lyrics and social and political commentary in his songs with a blend of hip hop and distinctive Latin American music styles.
The message the song is conveying is not complete until viewing the impacting visuals that the music video presents. The video recounts the history of different countries of Central and South America, giving ode to specific events that occurred in these countries. The music video offers visuals of Chilean musician Victor Jara assassinated during the Chilean coup in a stadium, the 43 Mexican students who disappeared and were assassinated, an indigenous child sitting on a tower of Happy Meals and a mother breastfeeding her child through a fence. The imagery that Residente displays is powerful due to the history that they represent and the struggles many people from these countries have to face.
“This is Not America” is a well thought out song holding a meaningful message and representation towards Latin America. Residente raps about the violence and chaos, but through his video and lyrics emphasizes this violence is met with resistance and in history there were people who stood up against the violence.
