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Childish Gambino has returned with yet another game of Blue’s Clues, sending fans on a wild goose chase to unpack the hidden symbolism in the 34-year-old’s most recent depiction of what it means to be “Black in America.” The scarily-talented artist released his latest visual for hit record, Feels Like Summer, on Sunday. Ironically, marking the unofficial end to the season.
The animated video is loaded with over 50 hip-hop cameos from both the old and the new school, forcing you to hit the replay button in order to catch them all. From Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott — who were recently involved in a controversy over the Billboard No. 1 calculations seen playing with blocks, to Future jacking Drake’s bicycle, and A$AP Rocky playing tug of war with The Weeknd, there’s a lot of questions left unanswered. It’s safe to say the suspense is killing everyone.
NDLYSS reached out to the Co-Directer of the video,Ivan Dixon to gain some insight on the creative direction with hopes of putting the rumor mill to rest. The Australian CEO of Rubber House Animation gave us the inside scoop on his experience helming the project alongside Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) Greg Sharp and illustrator Justin Richburg.
Have you noticed any systemic flaws or issues creeping back into music videos? There appears to be a lack of creative direction.
I think you’re right. There’s also a lot less money and focus put [into] them. Back in the day, MTV and other music channels were the biggest way for artists to get attention so they put a lot [more] resources into doing something that really stood out.
When I initially reached out, you were landing at LAX from Australia, not realizing the pandemonium surrounding the video release. What was your initial reaction when you discovered the video hit over a million views before you touched the ground?
Donald had such a huge success with [“This is America”] so I anticipated strong viewership, but not necessarily a receptive audience. I didn’t realize it was going to come out while I was on the plane [hysterical laughter]. I landed and it already had a million views. I’m happy that people like it. I knew that his fans would like it but it seems like it reached a bit further than that.
How did your business relationship form with Childish Gambino?
Donald contacted my directing partner (Greg Sharp) and I about 2 years ago when he came out to Australia to tour. He wanted to chat about future collaborations. He seems like a big fan of animation from having spoken to him. It just took a couple years before he had a project in mind that he felt we’d be good for. It’s really flattering!

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Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of how the concept was brought to life.
Donald had written the brief, which was a series of vignettes and little moments that outlined what he wanted to see. We didn’t necessarily follow that order in the end. Donald had already attached Justin Richburg as the character designer. Donald was a fan of one of Justin’s pieces that blew up online, featuring a host of African-American celebrities, artists, and politicians playing dice. We got Justin to deliver character designs for all 60-plus people who made [cameos] in the video.
Walk me through the collaboration with Justin Richburg. Did you draw your own pieces and send them back and forth or were you working together in the same room?
We storyboarded the video of that one-point perspective of Donald walking towards the camera as he glances back and forth. That was our input to resolve this idea of so many different things being crammed into the clip.
In terms of the lighting, was there a specific visual reference point? It has a very “Daria-esque” vibe.
The aesthetic of Justin’s characters are [inspired] by ’90s comic books with thick black outlines – that’s the Daria vibe. Donald also wanted to see a hazy, polluted look to the world even though it’s quite pleasant what we’re seeing. This is why we introduced the orange palette and the deep shadows caused by the sun.
“I think there’s definitely a ’90s-vintage aesthetic that gives it an old VHS vibe for the maximum nostalgia.”

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Are there any artists that were originally in the video that didn’t make the final cut?
No, I think we included everyone that Donald wanted. We didn’t want to cut out anybody or impose anyone. Getting the likeness from some of the cameos was trickier than other people. Obviously, you can put a MAGA hat on Kanye and you know it’s him. There are things that don’t translate really well with animation. They might have to go through a few passes of design for it to really resemble them.
Did you guys have any jitters on receiving backlash from artists when taking into consideration some of the controversial moments?
I think with some of the symbolism people will read into that what they want but from our point of view, it’s a harmonious clip. No one is represented in a critical light. There are little moments such as Nicki Minaj playing with the building blocks with Travis Scott and that’s a moment that a lot of the internet is reading into. Really, that was just something we had them do. It wasn’t a comment on any issue.
Speaking of moments, there’s an interesting clip of Florida politician Andrew Gillum sitting next to a two-toned ice cream sundae. Critics are speculating the ice cream melting is symbolic of Florida rapper XXXtentacion who was recently murdered. The shades of the flavors match the exact shades of his hair. It sounds far-fetched, but is there any truth to that observation?
I don’t want to ruin anyone’s interpretation of anyone in the clip. Explaining it is not going to do it justice. I prefer to leave those questions unanswered. I see the clip as a celebration of African-American culture. It was a fun opportunity to be asked to do that as a white man from Australia.

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Why were some artists like Chris Brown and Rihanna placed in front of a black backdrop as opposed to being in the main neighborhood shot?
It was in the brief from Donald. We wanted to do it in an interesting way with the light passing over them. I think it gives a sense of importance to those particular people, but I couldn’t tell you exactly the meaning.
What are the chances of the music video being adapted as a cartoon TV series?
Donald was in the works of making an animated “Deadpool” series until recently. I don’t know what the status is on that but I think they canceled it. If this video looks like a strong pitch by Donald and us, I’m on board for that.
What was your experience shooting such a prolific music video depicting African-American culture as a white, Australian man?
The U.S. does an incredible job at exporting its culture to the rest of the world. As an Australian, you consume American culture every day in the form of movies, TV, and politics. There’s a certain level of familiarity there, but within the sub-cultures, African-American culture is incredibly popular in other parts of the world, especially through music and sports. To be honest, having a really strong brief from Donald and designs from Justin gave us a certain level of assurance that the message would be authentic. We really tried to focus on doing a good technical job at what we felt confident in, which is the animated storytelling. I’m glad people are receiving it well and it doesn’t look like an outsider looking in on a culture.
If you’re still playing guessing games, here’s a list of the of all the features in the video.
• Lil Pump and Trippie Redd (00:46)
• 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’ (00:48)
• Kodak Black (00:57)
• Migos (1:00)
• Chance the Rapper, Jaden Smith, Birdman (1:20)
• Will Smith (1:25)
• Azealia Banks (1:28)
• Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott (1:29)
• The Weeknd, Ty Dolla $ign, and Frank Ocean (1:35)
• A$AP Rocky, Solange, and Willow Smith (1:39)
• Soulja Boy (1:41)
• Drake and Future (1:46)
• Kid Cudi (1:59)
• Kanye West and Michelle Obama (2:06)
• Beyoncé and reference to Fredo Santana (2:15)
• Florida governor Andrew Gillium with a reference to XXXTENTACION (2:25)
• Lil Uzi Vert, Oprah Winfrey, Kehlani, and Tiffany Haddish(2:42)
• Lil Yachty and Charlamagne (2:45)
• Gucci Mane (2:49)
• Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Diddy, Wiz Khalifa and JAY-Z (2:51)
• Ball Brothers and Young Thug (2:58)
• Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, and Lil Wayne (3:01)
• Rae Sremmurd and J. Cole (3:03)
• Janelle Monaé and Tessa Thompson (3:11)
• Chris Brown (3:29)
• Outkast (Big Boi and Andre 3000) (3:39)
• Rihanna (3:47)
• Whitney Houston (3:54)
• Michael Jackson (4:04)
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