Dissect - S7E6 - Sweatpants by Childish Gambino

Episode Date: January 28, 2021

We continue our season-long examination of Because The Internet with “Sweatpants.” After being rejected by a past girlfriend, Gambino’s defense mechanisms kick-in, triggering an ego-fueled barrage of boasts and brags. But by the song’s end, Gambino breaks down, revealing the chinks in his armor. Shop Season 7 Merch: https://bit.ly/36ClxIV Dive deeper into the world of BTI with our episodic visual guides (https://bit.ly/30EKbF1) where you can also read the BTI screenplay in full. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @dissectpodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone. Before we get started, I wanted to quickly let you know that limited Dysect Season 7 merchandise is now available on Dysectpodcast.com. We have four really great pieces, including a hoodie, a t-shirt, and a matching sweatsuit, aka Rosco's Sweatsuit. They're all really affordable and inspired by the themes discussed in season 7. So head to Dysectpodcast.com and order yours today. From Spotify Studios, this is Dysect, long-form musical analysis, broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today we continue our serialized analysis of Because the Internet by Childish Gambino. On our last episode, we dissected the song Telegraph Avenue.

There Gambino voiced the boy's trip from L.A. to Oakland in an attempt to reconnect with his ex, Naila. When he arrived, Naila told the boy she's moved on and that he needs to figure out what's wrong with himself and grow up. It's after this rejection and harsh realization that the script instructs us to play the next track on Because the Internet, the subject of our episode today, Sweatpants. Sweatpants was produced by Childish Gambino and Ludwig Gorinson. Glover described the song as silly, but also that it sounds as if, quote, you're losing it. Something we'll see reflected in the script in regards to the boy.

Like we saw in both Krawl and World Star, Gambino and Gorensen are able to capture this dualistic feeling through the song's harmony, beginning with the baseline. This baseline wavers between an E-flat and E-natural, the interval of a half-step. Like we mentioned on our episode on crawl, the half-step interval is the most dissonant interval in music, commonly used in horror film scores to evoke danger and unease. On top of this baseline we have a playful xylophone. Common in children's music, the xylophone lends a juvenile, quirky quality, though it too accents that dissonant interval of a minor second. Adding to this are two high-pitched samples, which also evokes a strange childlike quality. When the beat kicks in, we get another melodic

line. It too accents the minor second interval. And so on its surface, sweatpants is a playful, almost juvenile sounding beat. But just beneath its surface, there's something off. It's kind of like laughing to keep from crying, like someone on the verge of a mental breakdown just trying to hold things together, if only for appearances. As we'll come to see, this provides a perfect soundtrack for Gambino and the boy in the two scenes, Sweatpants Scores in the screenplay. While the song is, on its surface, a lighthearted brag track, it ends with a mental breakdown of sorts, a violent outburst of emotion that tethers together the song, screenplay, and the song's music video. When asked to explain the song title Sweatpants in a chat room Q&A, Glover wrote,

quote, Rich people get to wear whatever they want, unquote. In interviews, he would explain that rich people could go into a fancy restaurant wearing sweatpants, since no one could tell them what to do. Symbolically, sweatpants are what you wear when relaxing, when you don't care about putting anything on for anyone. And so it seems the idea here is that, along with physical comforts of material goods, the wealthy are also afforded a social currency of comfort. It provides unbothered self-assurance, a privilege

of unquestioned identity within our cultural constructs. And it appears that Sweatpants the song will in part function as an examination of this idea, of identity, context, and how and why we choose to present ourselves. Case and point is the first seen Sweatpants soundtracks in the screen. The boy and his crew are still in Oakland after Nila's rejection. They now sit at a table in the corner of a nightclub. Fam and the boy sit silently while Stephen and Swank talk to some girls. A club promoter comes over and tells the boy he can't just sit there. He has to order a bottle or something.

To the promoter's surprise, the boy says he'll take 12 bottles. The script cuts to a parade of 12 girls with sparklers and bottles heading towards the table. The people in the club get excited, turning to see the procession, thinking someone famous like Diddy must be there. As the girls and the promoter turned the corner and reached the table, the boy and his crew are nowhere to be seen, and they've left a stack of money in the center of the otherwise empty table. This opening scene illustrates the idea that rich people could do whatever they want, whenever

and wherever they want, fitting in with Glover's concept of sweatpants. While the boy is likely reeling in the aftermath of Nila's rejection, he is numb to the party atmosphere around him. Instead of meeting anyone or having any fun at all, he instead uses his wealth to stunt on others. The stack of cash he leaves on the table is the epitome of fuck you money, payback for the subtle accusation of loitering, of not belonging. He proves he could belong by leaving cash, but his leaving the club says he chooses not to. Again, fuck you money, sweatpants and a fine dining restaurant money. Gambino begins his verse, watching haters wonder why Gambino got the game locked. This establishes the aggressively braggadocious tone that will dominate the track.

By saying he has the game locked, he claims he has control. However, locked also implies an inability to move, to change, which reminds us of the looping meaninglessness that is the boy's life. Gambino then brags about a woman, half-tie-thicky, all she want to do is Bangkok, got her hair done, French braids, now she ASAP. Here Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, becomes a double entendre for sex. He likens the woman's French braids to rapper Asap Rocky, who famously had his hair in French braids on the cover of his 2013 album, Long Live Asap. This imagery also cuts deep due to the history of France attempting to colonize Thailand. Given that hair is a representation of self-expression and sex appeal, Gambino's statement that she now looks masculine is an insult, which leads to the next line, Beano so insensitive, she asking why you say that. This question is reminiscent of Nila asking the boy, what's wrong with you, after lashing out at her boyfriend.

Gambino and the boy are trapped in a cycle of hurting those around him. Gambino then attempts to answer the girl's question as the verse continues. Why you say that? I'm chilling. Real nigger feeling. Rich kid asshole. Pay me as a feeling. Still spitting that cash flow.

DJ Cali. I got penthouse on boat coast. pH. Balance. Real nigger, I rep those. Gambino, because I said so. Get deep in that pepto. I got five bono like Benfos.

I got more tail than that pet co. You fake her than some sweet-in-law. Gambino enjoys the sweatpants privilege of his wealth, essentially shrugging his shoulders at the woman he insulted. He raps, I'm chilling, real N-word feeling. Rich kid asshole paint me as a villain. He revels in being typecast as a spoiled brat, almost as if his fulfillment of the stereotype excuses his behavior.

This not only describes the boy, but Gambino himself, as he routinely defended himself against critics who claim he came from a place of privilege when his career began. Thus, the boy and childish Gambino share the same struggle here, lyrically entwined. Gambino then wraps, still spitting that cash flow, DJ Khalid. This line makes reference to Ace Hood's 2008 song Cashflow, which featured DJ Khaled, Tepane, and Rick Ross. Recall that Rick Ross is cast in the role of the boy's father in the first. screenplay, further intertwining the narratives of Gambino and the boy. He's still spitting that cash flow, as in still enjoying the rewards of his wealth, and still following in the footsteps of his

father, whose vague business dealings acquired the wealth to begin with. Gambino exemplifies his wealth, wrapping, I got a penthouse on both coasts, pH balance. pH balance is a zero to 14 scale for determining if a water-based solution is acidic or basic. Distilled water, falls directly in the middle of the scale, around a seven, and is therefore properly balanced between acidic and basic. Gambino cleverly uses this scale, and specifically to balanced water, to brag about owning a waterfront penthouse, or pH, on both coasts of America. Knowing that Gambino recorded BTI in a mansion in the Palisades located on the West Coast, it stands to reason that the other property is located in the Hamptons on the East Coast,

thus completing the pH or Palisades Hampton's balance. Gambino then claims real N-words I rep those. Why, though, because I said so. This couplet presents a fascinating aspect in Glover's work on BTI, the exploration of identity. A real N-word is somewhat authentic, but given the interwoven nature of reality and fiction, Glover seems to be playing with whether or not we believe what he says.

In this song in particular, he's already made multiple claims that seem to reflect different personalities, whether it be Gambino having the rap game on lock or the boy being a rich kid painted as a villain. When Gambino says he reps those who are real, we find ourselves asking if this has any merit, as reality and fiction have become further and further intertwined in BTI. In terms of explanation, Gambino is content to answer the existential question of why with a boastful unrefined because I said so. Gambino then wraps, Hip-deep in that pepto,

I got five on her like Benfolds, I got more tail than Petco, you faker than some sweet and low. Hip-deep in that pepto refers to the pink color of peptobismol as a euphemism for vagina, and so hip-deep becomes a crude way to brag about the size of his penis

as it reaches her hips when he's fully inside her. Peptobismal is commonly used to deal with over-consumption, and it appears what the woman has over-consumed is Gambino's large rod. The line, I Got Five, honor like Benfolds, cleverly cites the alternative rock group Benfolds five to say that he has his hand, his five fingers on the woman's butt,

which likely alludes to the fact that he's having sex doggy style. This brings us to the next line, I got more tail than Petco, a fitting nod to the pet retail store. Having propped himself up, he then accuses haters of being faker than the artificial sweetener Sweetenlo. Again, he's positioning himself,

as real and others as fake, but we're getting the sense that someone doth protest too much. Gambino continues to lambast his critics rapping, Yeah, you got some silverware, but really are you eating though? Gambino acknowledges that they have jewelry or silverware, a display of wealth that would seem to equal the boys. However, Gambino quickly separates himself, rhetorically asking, but really are you eating, though, with eating being used metaphorically as a measure of wealth. Gambino sees through the facade of material props like jewelry that attempt to give the impression of wealth,

and again he calls out these fakes and positions himself as real. We also recognize these lines about eating are time to coincide with the moment readers of the script get to the scene of the boy and his crew at a diner after they leave the nightclub. It's here that they physically eat while talking about animals eating other animals, extending the metaphor of eating as competition or survival. Gambino then continues to thread, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner for beginners, You Ain't Even Know.

While three square meals constitute survivalist eating, Gambino suggests that he's eating on another plane above his haters. While You Ain't Even Know is a simple dismissal of their thoughts, it also references Rocco's 2013 hit song, UO-E-N-O, which features the previously mentioned ASAP Rocky and Rick Ross. UO-O-E-N-O-E-N-O-N-O is essentially a brag-track about wealth, so the reference here is fitting to Gambino's assertion that is riches are on another level. We also understand that this song's title, U-O-E-N-O, uses a sequence of individual letters

that resemble the song's catchphrase you don't even know. Gambino piggybacks on this idea, as his next line also spells it out for us, never catching cases, why they faces look so EMO. Given all the sexual exploits of the verse so far, never catching cases seems to refer to Gambino not acquiring any sexually transmitted diseases. In this sense, he may be asking why the people he sleeps with appear emo, or emotional when he's just out here trying to have fun. The cases could also refer to court cases, another way in which the boys' wealth and privilege are leveraged to engage in illegal activities without facing any consequences. Again, it's the sweatpants idea, the social and judicial comfort

that wealth provides. He goes on to say that his haters want to play him like a piano, utilizing the musical instrument as metaphor for being used. Gambino's delivery of piano sounds a lot like the letters P-N-O, a continuation of the spelling technique he's used for this triad, U-O-O-E-N-O, E-M-O, and P-N-O. Sounding out each word like this appears to dumb it down for his haters. Gambino continues bragging about the fact his architect knows the Japanese language and or Japanese architecture style, an allusion to the eastern influence of the boys' mansion, including the prominent Buddha statue.

He then plays on jockstrap to string together a line about his haters' girl joccing him and giving him head with no hands like soccer teams, a humorous simile. While Gambino has sex with his haters' girl, the haters themselves fuck boys like Socrates. This is perhaps the pinnacle of Gambino's attempt to position himself as masculine and brash, as he uses homosexuality to criticize opponents. This stands in contrast to Glover in interviews saying, Am I gay? Maybe. And including a story of him kissing a boy when he was young on clapping for the wrong reasons.

It appears the posturing of the song has him doing the very thing he rejects in real life. The simile, fuck boys like Socrates, makes reference to the ancient Greek philosopher's execution when he was found guilty of youth corruption. In ancient Greece, the practice of pederesty, a relationship between an adult male mentor and a teenage pupil, was common, especially amongst the ruling and academic classes. Finally, the term fuckboys is slang in this instance for someone who is weak or contemptible, another jab. Gambino then proceeds by once again bragging about the material goods that separate him from the pack. You N-Words ain't copping these. N-warns ain't looking like me. Nah, I ain't checking ID, but I bounce them with no problem.

He boasts here about being as physically threatening as a bouncer at a club. His claim that he isn't going to check ID most directly refers to the unfamiliar guests at the boys' house parties. At the end of this verse, he says, tell him problem, which references the rapper problem, who will actually appear on the tracks hook momentarily. with no problem, tell a problem. I'm winning, yeah, yeah, I'm winning. I'm winning, yeah, yeah, I'm winning. I'm winning, yeah, yeah, I'm winning.

Rich kid, asshole, paint me as a feeling. Gambina repeats, I'm winning, yeah, yeah, I'm winning. This is an allusion to actor Charlie Sheen's 2011 public meltdown, where Sheen appeared in multiple interviews making outrageous claims while in the throes of drug and alcohol rehab. Sheen's most famous soundbites included descriptions of its debauchery, a claim that he had tiger blood, and his use of the word winning to describe his life.

I'm by winning. I win here and I win there. Wow, winning. Defeating the nays hares. You're either winning or you're losing? There's nothing in between. In referencing Sheen's very public blowup, Glover calls on her contextual memory of that time

when the actor took up the nation's attention for a month. Glover's own description of the song's sweatpants as, Silly, but like you're losing it, also matches Sheen. Tabloids and social media tore him apart, laughing at his sound bites and exploits. But Sheen was, underneath all of the act, a man. He has children. He was very clearly in the throes of addiction,

losing his mind amidst the debauchery of what he called, quote, being a goddamn rock star, unquote. Gambino's rapping on this track has been much of the same, bragging about all the money, luxury, material goods, and sex he acquires as putting him above any of the naysayers. Self-aware or not, the boys experiencing his Sheen moment. But the parallels don't end here. Charlie Sheen is the son of the legendary actor Martin Sheen. The last name Sheen is actually a stage name.

Martin Sheen's real name is Ramon Estevez, and his invented stage name was inspired by a famous televangelist Fulton J. Sheen. Martin passed down the name to his son. Carlos Estevez, known to us as Charlie Sheen. Much like the wealthy, famous Sheen family, the boy is the son of Rick Ross, a man who constructed an identity by taking the name of someone successful and used their new identity to acquire wealth in the entertainment industry. Furthermore, Charlie Sheen's fame was primarily based on his role in the sitcom Two and a Half Men. Gambino has just drawn a parallel between himself and Sheen, and on BTI, he plays and explores the roles of Donald Glover, Childish Gambino, and the boy. Two and a half men.

The rapper Problem offers the internet generation's perfect Instagram caption, Don't be mad because I'm doing me better than you do and you. It's a line that encapsulates the stunting of the song, and it distills braggadocio into a presentation of self, wherein one can be themselves better than another. Since Gambino's stunting so far is designed to elicit a reaction from haters, him, chastising them for being mad is incredibly troll-like. And aside from the more obvious brag, we also understand within the context of the larger world of BTI, this hook about identity, about hyper-conscious construction of oneself, is itself an interrogation of that concept.

That is, can you be yourself more than someone else? Is this even possible? Aren't we all unavoidably ourselves whether we like it or not? Even when we are performing, isn't the fact that we feel the need to perform, to present, to brag, to construct, a reflection of who we are? As Gambino returns with the second verse, he turns his posturing and stunting up to 11. That's right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we heard Gambino deliver a verse full of braggadocio. With verse 2, he tops himself with even more ridiculous boasts. your girl drank my daycare and I'm born rich life ain't fair. Ain't nobody sicker and my fiscler.

Boom ho. Fiskers don't make noise when they start up, just so you know. Gambino's swaggering is outrageous, rapping, Different Color My Passport, Instagram My Stackload, hashtag my daywear and your girl drink my daycare. Passports are blue for U.S. citizens. Other countries have different colors, so maybe Gambino's boast about a different color passport

is about being a citizen in multiple countries, but it doesn't seem rooted in anything realistic. Interestingly, Gambino concluded the first verse by not checking ID, but his second verse begins with a boast centered around ID. After showing off his wealth, he then goes after detractors again, claiming that their girl drinks as daycare. A daycare is full of kids, so the insinuation is that she's swallowing his semen, the conclusion of when she was on him with no hands like soccer teams. Gambino then mocks a common criticism aimed at the boy, rapping, and I'm born rich, life ain't fair, Silver Spoon Coon Ho. This latter insult is processed digitally, seeming to mimic the often racially charged trolling of online comments. The word Coon is a racial

slur, a caricature born in times of American slavery, used to denigrate the enslaved who were unhappy with their position, yet were accused of being too lazy to do anything about it. Silver spoon evokes the common phrase that someone born into wealth is born with the silver spoon in their mouth, implying that they don't have to work for their wealth, instead allowing themselves to be lazy and enjoy the fruits of others' labor. And so the full derogatory phrase is a double accusation of laziness, both because of his inherited wealth and because he's black. Like we've seen a number of times throughout BTI,

the boy's wealth does not exempt him from experiencing racism, and here being called racial slurs. but Gambino dismisses the hate, rapping, Ain't nobody sicker in my Fisker, Vroom Vroom Ho. He then pauses, breaks the fourth wall, and explains, Fiskers don't make any noise when they start up, just so you know. Fisker is a rare luxury electric car company. At the time, a fiscer would have cost at least six figures,

and were renowned for their potential as an environmentally friendly luxury vehicle. They didn't produce many cars and production stopped by November 2013, meaning that they were hard to find. Gambino is thus boasting about a niche luxury, something rare and unique, similar to his earlier line that his critics weren't copying these. Interestingly, the most visible instance of a fiscer in pop culture at this time would have been Ashton Coucher's character driving one on two and a half men. Coocher was brought on to the show to replace Charlie Sheen after his public breakdown, so Gambino's specific reference to the fiscor here is an example of him taking the debauchery of the first verse

and upping it once more. It's as if his pursuit of winning compels him to top his past self and a never-ending pursuit of greater and greater pleasure and ego. Top of the holy totem, rich, rich forever, a million was not to quote him. My father owned half a moment

and did it with no diploma. Year off got no rules, tripping off of them toes fools, more green than my whole foods and I'm too fly, Jeff Goldblum, got a glass house and a padisades, that a K-KA, Whitehood, Okay, okay, okay.

Gambino continues posturing, claiming he's top of the holy totem, Rich Forever, a million was not the quota. Rich Forever here refers to Rick Ross's Instagram handle and a Ross mixtape of the same name. Recall that Ross was referenced in verse one with his feature on cash flow. Also recall that Ross is cast as the boy's father, which leads us directly into the next line. My father owned half the MoMA and did it with no diploma.

Considering Glover's real father, was a postal worker, this is a fictional reference with two possibilities. First, in reference to the boy's father, it's a boast of wealth, an outlandish claim that they own half the artwork in the Museum of Water Art and didn't need an education to do it. Second, and seems this line is referencing Jay Z on the song, Who Goon Stop Me, from Jay and Kanye West's collab album, Watch the Throne. Jay Raps graduated to the MoMA and I did all this without a diploma. This seems to reference a May 2011 performance where he and Kanye performed in the sculpture garden at the MoMA. During interviews at this time, Gambino would often claim that he was the son of Kanye, adding another layer in his line about a rich father. So why do you call yourself the son of Kanye, man? Because I am. I can go where Kanye can't. Like Kanye talks about the glass wall. And he's right, man. It sucks. He's a genius to me. I think he can do amazing things for humans.

Gambino continues his verse, Year off got no rules, tripping off them toadstools, more green than my Whole Foods. This year off with no rules might specifically be a reference to the time Glover and his creative team spent living in the temple working on BTI.

Tripping off Toadstools calls back to the psychedelic mushrooms talked about on World Star. He claims he has more money or green than Whole Foods, a chain of health conscious grocery stores with abundant produce sections. Gambino then cleverly comments on his style, rapping,

I'm two-fly Jeff Goldblum. This alludes to both the actor's highly regarded sense of fashion, as well as Goldblum's starring role as The Fly in the 1986 sci-fi film, The Fly. Gambino then ups the ante on his spelling lines from the first verse, rapping, Got a Glass House and the Palisades, that A.k.a. Whitehood, Whitehood, O KKK. This glass house refers to the temple,

which also serves as the fictional home for the boy in the screen. screenplay. When Gambino calls it his AKA, or also known as, he ties the house to his identity. The Infinity Pool, Buddha statue, and glass walls all represent parts of himself, essential to the album's exploration of identity. Lonely on top of a hill, the house represents lonesome luxury, yet its glass walls reveal vulnerability and invites examination. The boy's outsider status is accentuated by the Palisades being a predominantly white neighborhood, which Gambino scandalously characterizes as a white hood, playing on symbolism tied to the white robes at the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. In this use of hood lies an oscillation between comfort and danger.

Early in his career, Gambino had a song called My Hoodie, and would tell interviewers that he liked wearing one all the time because it was how he felt the most comfortable. A hoodie obscures our ability to see someone's face, a mini-barrier that can allow for safety and seclusion. Yet the boy also feels out of place in the Palisades, vulnerable and uncomfortable in his hood since he doesn't fit in. Notably, the hoodie now has connotative danger due to the infamous murder of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager in Florida who is shot dead as a result of alleged racial profiling. The killer attempted to justify his actions by saying that Martin, who is wearing a hoodie, looked suspicious. This happened in 2012, and shortly after, on the track, Eat Your Vegetables,

Childish Gambino addressed the hoodie symbolism that's become pervasive. And so in attempting to spell out a description of his house and the white hood of the palisades, Gambino has illuminated the simultaneous sense of comfort and danger he feels in relation to his identity. Donning his hoodie, like his sweatpants, is how he feels most comfortable. Yet at the same time, it's this same hoodie that endangers him when it's perceived differently by others, namely his white hood of the palisades, aka white, a.m.m. KKKK, uh. Whether we like it or not, the perceptions of others impacts us, especially as a black man in society shaped by racism. So it's no wonder that Gambino tries to stunt and proclaim himself

to be strong and powerful in the face of such existential jeopardy. Gambino gets back to broke man wouldn't want to be a friends with a dope man help a dickerria. Bring a girlfriend, man, trouble when I see it. I'm on my coo'allon. Gambo. Gambino gets back to boasting about his custom furniture and foreign cars, comparing them to his haters' cheap IKEA furniture and basic Kia car. Gambino then flaunts the endlessness of his cash flow, saying, spending this money is longer than Nia, live like a Coppola, me and Sophia.

After a reference to the actress Nia Long, Gambino likens his lifestyle to the Coppola family, consisting of Francis Ford Coppola, director of the Godfather films, Nicholas Cage, Jason Swartzman, and the specifically named Sophia Coppola. director of Lost in Translation. The Coppolas are Hollywood royalty,

renowned for their artistic talents and great work, a status Gambino both seeks and assumes. Gambino then works toward the conclusion of his verse, rapping, I got my cool on, tailor-made. I'm winning so they had to dump the Gatorade. Here we get one more reference to Charlie Sheen's practice of reckless winning. Saying they had to dump the Gatorade

refers to a winning sports team dumping a cooler of Gatorade on their coach once it becomes clear that they can't lose a big game. Cleverly, Gambino ties this in with his unique tailor-made style, as he describes it as having his coolon, but also referring to the cold Gatorade or Icewater that comes from a cooler. This final rap bar of the verse actually brings it full circle. Back to the first line,

haters wonder why Gambino got the game locked. That is, when the game is locked, it's certain that he'll win, and this is the precise moment when the Gatorade comes. This shock of icy cold celebration might be the reason for the next and final line, which seems to come out of nowhere. In the afterglow of such debauchery, such winning,

Gambino breaks through all the facade, shouting, and I don't give a fuck about my family name. We then hear his fist slam on a diner table. There's a reverberation of shock in the aftermath, as we hear the sounds of a diner react to the outburst. This moment appears across sweatpants the song, the music video, and the script, and this synergy and interconnectivity demands that we view every portion of the world that Glover

has crafted for a full understanding. In terms of the song, this final statement is an utter rejection of the criticisms and haters he addressed throughout. For the boy, whose wealthy father is Rick Ross, his family name is a symbol of his inherited privilege, a privilege his critics use as ammunition to call him a rich kid asshole, or the more derogatory Silver Spoon Coon. The boy postures that he doesn't give a fuck about his family name as a way to negate such criticism, which only further proves his privilege and false sense of entitlement. For Gambino, not giving a fuck about his family name addresses a common

criticism of his music, that he's beholden to his influences, his artistic forefathers like Kanye West, and he's just riding their wave and providing nothing original of his own. After a song full of boasts and nonchalant put-downs, this sudden outbursts reveals real, felt emotion, and hurt. In the screenplay, this outburst comes at the end of a scene that directly follows the crew's outing at the nightclub in Oakland. The crew now sits in a diner late at night, where Steve and Swank argue about vegetarianism. Steve says that the argument in support of being vegetarian is that humans have both free will and understanding of life, so they have a choice to spare animals. Swank counters that most animals eat other animals.

and tells the story about growing up in Nigeria, raising and loving a goat, and then being forced to kill that goat for food. Much like the lyrical content throughout sweatpants, here the boys' crew's primary concern is eating, and their conversation about vegetarianism can be read as a metaphor for ways to use wealth. Steve says that human consciousness and knowledge means that they could spare animals, metaphorically that wealth and the power and opportunity it affords, could be used as a way to save and uplift the lower socioeconomic classes. Swank counters by saying that human beings are just animals,

and that animals in the wild eat other animals. Competition and cutthroat behavior is necessary, an innate part of life. Thus gaining wealth is the goal, and if that means you have to take it from others, then so be it. But this conversation strikes the boy with the sense of deja vu. He thinks, I was here before, and when he tells the crew this, they all say they've never been in Oakland together. But the boy keeps saying that this night is the same as every other night. He can't help but feel the repetitive nature of their conversation and actions. Despite their musings about life, death and mortality, they aren't really worried about others. Instead, they bring up outside ideas for the purpose of shooting them down, to make fun, to stunt, to project

themselves as superior, much like Gambino did throughout the song. And this idea of deja vu in a diner serves as the thematic foundation for the music video for sweatpants. Like the screenplay, the video takes place at a diner at night. Gambino slash the boy walks in, sits down at a table with his crew for a while before getting up, walking outside, and texting someone on his phone. He walks back into the diner and repeats the cycle. He sits down with his crew, only this time everyone at the table is now him. He again walks outside, again makes a text message, and then walks back into the diner the same way once again. In this third loop, everyone in the diner is now him, and it's here in this third and final loop that he slams his fist on the table. In the screenplay,

the fist slam is triggered by what happens at the end of the diner scene. As his crew keeps debating about vegetarianism, the boy becomes focused on a group of teenagers goofing off and trolling each other at another table. A kid in a fake 90s hat writes, Rossco's wetsuit on the wall. The boy gets up and goes to ask the Hat Kid what Roscoe's wetsuit means. Hat Kid repeatedly says he doesn't know, that he just saw it on the internet. This visibly frustrates the boy. FAM comes and brings him back to the table. As they sit down, Hat Kid shouts, it means I sat on your mom's face. The boy slams his fist on the table, silencing the entire diner. Without looking up, he says, tell me what it is, or I'll cut you open and take the answer. The diner is silent and shocked.

Hat Kid wrote Roscoe's wetsuit on the wall without knowing what it meant, caught up in propagating something meaningless, which is similar to Gambino's empty boasts about sex and money throughout the song. Hatkid's insult to the boy's deceased mother parallels the insults Gambino is responding to when he rebukes his family name at the end of sweatpants. Try as he might to prop himself up and ignore the influence of his family. The truth is, Gambino and the boy cannot deny their connection, and it hurts, so they lash out. This slam on the table is the moment, the moment when the repetitive selfishness of stunting and cascating others breaks the boy in Gambino.

They have had enough, and something must change. In the music video, as Gambino slams the table, the camera pans around the diner in the aftermath. As the hook of sweatpants comes back, we see that every individual in the diner now has Gambino's face. As Gambino sits in shock at the table, every patron stares at the camera. willing him to realize they're all there together, connected. Why?

Don't be mad because I'm you. Better than you doing you. Conclusions. Sweepants are known for their comfort, yet socially, they have become a symbol of a general disregard for what other people think. They're an insult to the idea that we need to maintain and present ourselves well for others, and your ability to wear sweatpants wherever you want relies on your comfort level. As Gambino explained, rich people get to wear whatever they want, wherever they want.

Certainly, the boy has the kind of wealth to wear these symbolic sweatpants. It's an indifferent attitude reflected in his stunt at the club and in Gambino's loop of repetitive, selfish, hedonistic bragging throughout the track. He makes it clear to us, as the hook suggests, that he's doing him better than we're doing ourselves, and he doesn't care who he hurts in order to convey this message or live this lifestyle. Regarding the music video for sweatpants, Glover told Complex, quote, It's about the idea of doing you so hard that you can't do anything else.

I never wanted him to freak out when he saw himself. I wanted him to be like, this is what I'm supposed to be, but it's scary at the same time. Being you to the utmost is scary because you don't know what you're capable of. You may turn into a version of yourself you might not like, unquote. You may turn into a version of you you might not like. This is precisely what the boy is coming to understand about himself, stuck in a loop of narcissistic actions and pursuits, unable to escape who he's become. His initial attempt to break the cycle, driving back to Oakland to rekindle a connection, failed him, so he's fallen back to what he knows, who he is, stuck in the loop. The slam of the fist on the diner table that connects the song, script, and music video is in part an expression of the inescapability of who we are,

the frustration of not being able to change even when we want to. And yet at the same time, we can also view the multiple Gambinos in the diner as the boy beginning to see himself and others, to feel the connection among us. This presents another layer in the concept of sweatpants, and that's context. At home, sweatpants are chill, you can be concerned with only yourself, but if you go out, you have to start considering the perception of others, the connections being made everywhere you go. This hyper-awareness of context is what Glover seems to be pushing here.

Can we, like the boy, just be ourselves, all alone, doing whatever we want exclusively for ourselves? Is this any way to live a rich, fulfilling life? We recall the boys' outburst at the jazz club after fam attempts to ascribe meaning to their lives by way of them printing their own t-shirts. Quote, but none of it matters because we're just doing it for ourselves. We're just jerking off for each other. No one in the future is going to give a shit I made a shirt once, unquote. Gambino and the boy's outburst at the diner is similar here.

We can't just live for ourselves because what we do, how we interact, how we present ourselves has an impact on the outside world. We have to care about what other people think and feel, because if it was just us, we'd be pointless. We'd be stuck in a narcissistic loop. We do not exist individually in a vacuum. Our actions contribute to the gears that propel humanity. We're all a part of something larger than ourselves.

And so we have to see ourselves and others, like the boy in the diner, all connected, all moving to some invisible rhythm in the orchestra of human existence. Yet despite, and sometimes because of this fact, we can still feel lonely, still find it hard to connect with those around us. How do we deal with the fact that despite being more connected than ever before, we still feel feel alone. We'll follow Gambino as he grapples with the existential fear of loneliness and Because the Internet's next song, 2005, a track will examine note by note, line by line, next time

on Dysect. Today's episode of Dysect was written by Camden Ostrander and me. Remember, you can go deeper into the world of Because the Internet through the supplementary guides on our website, Dysectpodcast.com. While you're there, be sure to check out our limited season 7 merchandise. Also, be sure to follow us on social media at Dissect Podcast. Today's episode was edited by Eric Bass and me, song recreations by Andrew Atwood, theme music by bureaucratic.

Okay, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.