‘Feels like Summer’ music video has viewers feeling good

Rapper Childish Gambino’s (also known as Donald Glover) new animated music video “Feels Like Summer” has been trending on social media since its Sept. 1 release on YouTube. The feel-good summer single off his third extended play, Summer Pack, features cameos from familiar faces — ranging from numerous well-known artists in hip-hop to other influential black figureheads in today’s culture.

The warm colors in the music video sets the mood of a hot summer day, as an animated Childish Gambino casually strolls down a suburban neighborhood and watches its famous inhabitants take part in typical activities one would engage in during the year’s heat-filled season.

From Young Money rapper Birdman grilling food out on a lawn to Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi playing with water guns, Gambino uses the summertime atmosphere to shed a new light on those in the rap industry who live their lavish lifestyles on a large and public scale.

“Feels Like Summer” also touches base on modern day trending topics and the current state of drama within the hip-hop industry. In Kodak Black’s cameo, the Floridian rapper is shown wearing an orange jumpsuit and is unable to come outside the house and “play,” which is a reference to Black’s previous violations of his house arrest.

Additionally, the music video shows rapper Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott building blocks together, in reference to their public contention over album sales and chart placement. Scott’s album, ASTROWORLD, topped the Billboard 200 chart for two consecutive weeks compared to Minaj’s latest album, Queen (which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200). In their cameo together, Minaj builds a block tower that Scott accidently knocks down when taking a block, causing Minaj to notably frown at her demolished piece of artwork.

“Feels like Summer” has had more than 27 million views on YouTube and has been trending on social media since released. Viewers loved how the video showed entertainers taking part in activities most of us grew up doing as a child or still take part in during the summer.

In actors Will Smith’s cameo, he’s cleaning his car while hip-hop pioneers such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Diddy and Jay Z are doing the electric slide, which a modern dance performed at many black barbeques as a celebratory tradition. In famed talk show host Oprah Winfrey’s cameo, she’s braiding rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s hair, who sits next to comedian Tiffany Haddish. Viewers found this video fun not only for its animation and trying to guess who each animated character was, but because of the video’s relatability and how it serves as a friendly reminder that celebrities are people, just like their fans.

Throughout the chorus of the song, the video’s background becomes black and artists with a lot of controversial pasts or currently involved in controversial issues make their cameos, the most notable being singer Chris Brown and rapper Kanye West.

In the past, Brown has notably made tabloids for getting his domestic violence offenses and has gotten into public altercations with artists such as Drake and Frank Ocean. As far as West, his recent public support of current President Donald Trump's “Make America Great Again” campaign and “slavery was a choice” commentary has earned him some flack from newfound flack from fans, as the Chicago hip-hop artist has long been one of the most controversial artists in the industry.

To make matters more interesting, in Kanye's particular cameo, he’s sobbing while wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat and is being comforted by former first lady Michelle Obama. Deceased legendary artists such as Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson also made cameos against the black background in the closing of the video, adding a commemorative element to the video

If you haven’t watched the video yet, I recommend you give it a try. It’s fun to guess the animated celebrity cameos as well as try to understand the hidden messages behind the interactions of characters in the video.

Rating -- 5 out of 5 stars