That Power by Childish Gambino

That Power is an incredibly unique song for its two-toned nature that makes it sound like two completely different songs. The first part that consists of chorus and rap describes how he overcame the difficulties of being biracial in a society that pushes a black and white binary. There are a couple lines that are common in rap songs that may distract the listener and cause him or her to immediate profile this piece as “just another rap song” but further listening, perhaps listening again, will reveal deeper meaning of the piece.


Lovin' white dudes who call me white and then try to hate

When I wasn’t white enough to use your pool when I was 8


In this first couplet he uses the repetition of the word “white” which shows the prevalence of racial identity in social situations. His example of this issue is not being “white enough” to have been invited to swim in a classmate's pool when he was younger, yet white men call him “white” because he does not act “black”. He furthers this point in the following tercet when he says:


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"


In this tercet, he brings up the racial binary in a different light. In these lines he talks about how his biraciality causes him not to be able to please either part of him. He doesn’t fit in with his black ethnicity because he is too light for them, but despite his 50% white genetics, white people consider him black because any color darker than white is just black. Hence “you’re all the same.”

When the Spoken Word-like monologue starts, his persona changes to an awkward, thirteen year old boy- no longer the famous, rich rapper. Again, the listener may get caught up in the sentimentality and cuteness of the piece, and may be too distracted to catch recurring theme of race in social situations. While sitting on the bus back from camp, he contemplates telling the girl he befriended this summer how he feels because of the reality that they will never see each other again.

"Back in the real world we don’t go to the same school, and unless one of our families moves to a dramatically different neighborhood, we won’t go to the same high school. So, this is kind of it for us."

Back in the real world, their different socioeconomic statuses will cause them to go to different high schools. On a more meaningful level, the high schools represent their social situations. He will go to a high school in his neighborhood and she will go to one in her neighborhood and they will never be in the same social situation again. Through the metaphor of school he again demonstrates how he as been unable to join white social situations throughout his life.

I defend That Power as poetry, not just for it’s spoken-word qualities at the end, but for its ability to convey deeper and deeper meanings every time one listens to it again.

Lastly it is poetry because the last lines of the song he speaks leaves the reader/listener thinking--

"I wish I could say this was a story about how I got on the bus a boy and got off a man more cynical, hardened, and mature and shit. But that’s not true. The truth is I got on the bus a boy. And I never got off the bus. I still haven’t."

--contemplating all that he has said, all that he means, and what the heck the bus is.

Link to the song is here