Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” Is the First Hip-Hop Track to Win Song of The Year at the Grammys

By Scott Russell  |  February 10, 2019 | 9:48pm
Music News Childish Gambino
Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” Is the First Hip-Hop Track to Win Song of The Year at the Grammys

Donald Glover may be retiring his musical moniker in the near future, but he’s making history as Childish Gambino in the meantime.

The phenomenon that was his 2018 track “This Is America” won Song of the Year at the 61st Grammy Awards Sunday, becoming the first hip-hop track ever to win the award.

Glover, Young Thug and Ludwig Göransson are credited with the award, winning out over Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars,” Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up,” Drake’s “God’s Plan,” Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke” and Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood.”

“This Is America” is also up for Record of the Year, the winner of which has yet to be announced as of this writing, and it already won the Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video awards.

(Note: “This Is America” went on to win Record of the Year, becoming the first hip-hop song in history to be recognized in that category, as well.)

Absent from tonight’s Grammys, Glover becomes the first absentee artist to take home one of the big four awards (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist) since Amy Winehouse in 2008.

Follow along with tonight’s results here and revisit the Grammy-winning “This Is America” video below, plus a 2011 Gambino performance from the Paste archives.

 
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