Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino)’s music video for his new single “This Is America” is a superbly woke cultural landmark right now. Together with his longtime collaborator Hiro Murai, the rapper/writer/comedian/actor/producer crafted a four-minute brazen commentary about race and gun violence in America. Filled with symbolism and metaphors, the much-analyzed video offers a disturbingly hypnotic, frightening look at the reality of the United States today.
This remix of the Childish Gambino’s magnum opus, however, is far from being momentous. It’s still a social commentary, nonetheless. Behold — “This Is America” but dubbed with Phua Chu Kang’s horrendous rap about being gracious on public transport, courtesy of Nicholas Bay via the Singapore Shitposting Constituency Facebook group.
This Is Singapore
There was a time when Phua Chu Kang, the comedic character played by Gurmit Singh, was so popular that the government forced him into cringe-worthy public service announcements, like protecting yourself during the SARS outbreak and the aforementioned graciousness on public transport. The sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd debuted in 1997 and ran for 10 years on TV, with Singaporeans loving Singh’s portrayal of the titular character — a contractor who speaks Singlish and is a caricature of the “ah beng” (uneducated Chinese hooligan) stereotype.
Needless to say, Phua Chu Kang is no Childish Gambino.
The parody comes hot at the heels of the meme-ification of “This is America”, which overdubs the video with happier tunes that oddly fit in with Glover’s dancing.
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