Breaking down Childish Gambino’s 'RIOT'
- Kavwanga Caleb Lintini
- Apr 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 14
When we think about the word ‘Riot’, our minds rush to the negative connotations that surround the word. Violence, civil disobedience and all manner of ills to society incite them. Often, a ‘Riot’ stems from a call to action. It makes people feel so strongly and intensely that they unite and express themselves in an outburst of uncontrolled feelings.
The background behind the song:
Much like the rest of the album, Riot draws influence from the 70s funk scene, sounding not dissimilar to artists such as Sly and the Family Stone and Funkadelic. Especially Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, from whom Gambino borrows heavily. It features a lady with an afro screaming, her head sticking from the ground. Childish Gambino pays homage to Maggot Brain on his album cover. She is illuminated by an iridescent, almost bioluminescent blue light. She wears a headpiece constructed by jeweller Laura Wass from WXYZ Jewelry.
We hear the main riff from “Riot” in the song “Good To Your Earhole” by Funkadelic at 1:45.The name, ‘Riot’, can also be considered a nod to Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 Record ‘There’s a Riot Goin' On’, which addressed the tumultuous political climate in the 70s America post-civil rights movement.
In an interview with Triple J, Childish Gambino talks about the personal difficulty he had when creating the album and some of the external turmoil America was facing, such as the recent election of controversial President Donald Trump for his first presidency in 2016. We need to remember the social climate that was present at the time. Days after the results of the November election, the United States experienced a wave of extremist racism, nationalism and civil unrest. Tensions that would continue to bubble within the underbelly of American society often rose to the top of the national consciousness, such as in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the re-election of Donald Trump in 2024.
Childish Gambino would further expand on the address of the American state on his massive 2018 hit This is America, which more overtly calls out the injustices of the time. In a GQ interview, Gambino stated…
“The feeling of what was happening at the time informed his writing process because of all the uprisings and riots”
Gambino spoke about wanting to create a moment because creating contemporary cultural moments is how you get people to care.
The Break Down
Instrumental
From the beginning, Riot kicks off at 100. The segment sampled during the intro is unapologetically loud, discombobulating and funky. Before the listener is ready to process what they are listening to, Gambino screams in a primal and provocative way that sets the tone for the rest of the song.
“I remember hearing a Funkadelic scream and being like, ‘Wow, that’s sexual, and it’s scary.’ Not having a name for that, though; just having a feeling. That’s what made it great.”
The song's composition is kaleidoscopic, with many instruments and sounds tingling, buzzing about and playing simultaneously. Guitar splashes meet alien-sounding synth arpeggios, making the song feel tight and alarming during verses and choruses but atmospherically otherworldly during the instrumental bridge.
Lyrics
Lyrically, we can hear the song’s sense of gravity. The first verse tries to detail an indescribable feeling within him and the world around him.
He then invites listeners to “get down and boogie” in the form of a call and response between him and backup singers, creating a unified voice. The cry “Everyone, get down!” can also be taken as a heads up to people accompanying him in the riot to avoid being hit with shit like tear gas and water cannons.
There’s a sense of urgency that flows through the song's pulse. This urgency is epitomised in the second verse, where Gambino sharply critiques the status quo without wasting words.
My interpretation of the lyrics is as follows:
There’s something inside Gambino that is almost intrusive; he wishes to express (displeasure with the world. Whether it be that none of the leaders are prepared to take action to correct the state of the world. This song is dangerous and potentially powerful as it realises music as a form of revolution, and I would love to see it be Gen-Z's rallying cry against injustice. Gambino’s passion is emotionally commanding, evoking strong feelings for the audience. It has a raw, almost possessive quality. Vanessa J. Aguilar attempts to describe this phenomenon in her article “Summoning Duende: afro-diasporic Religious Listening Practices in Funkadelic and Childish Gambino's Music.”
To feel the ecstasy of the song, one cannot just listen to it and be content with it; it demands you to dance to it.
Dance as a form of protest
Dance has had a long history within the world of activism and protest. Being one of our most potent forms of human expression, dance conveys ideas that transcend the bounds of race, gender and class, from the cakewalk dance of enslaved Africans, which covertly mocked the white slave owners in the 19th century, to the Iranian citizens posting their dance videos expressing solidarity for five teenage girls detained for dancing on International Women's Day.
Listeners assemble under Gambino’s rallying carries to object to and/or reflect the state of affairs through their movement. The choices behind specific choreography in dancing give off various elements of meaning, both implicit and explicit. Simultaneously, a lack of choreography or structured dance, a spontaneous invitation to ‘bust a move’ can be equally intentional.
According to Maria Christina Assumma (2005), "‘Duende [is] literally a spirit, ... a profane trance, a manifestation of musical emotion which goes beyond a religious context" due to its ability to captivate and move an audience (Assumma, 2005)
