麻豆约拍

It's been called the most talked about music video in recent history - Childish Gambino's This is America, created by the US singer and actor Donald Glover along with film director Hiro Murai. This is America shines a fierce light on our times - and issues like gun violence, mass shootings, racism and discrimination in the United States.

Criticised on one hand as 'trauma porn', it has also been lauded as bold social commentary. And it has been viewed more than four hundred million times on YouTube. Singers and activists across the world have responded to the song with interpretations of their own, some of which have also gained millions of views.

These versions are not mere covers: the best are stringent and illuminating accounts of their own experience of society and politics, violence and aspiration. In garages, streets and wasteland in every continent, rappers have shot their own videos, often adding local instruments, poetry and dance routines.

In This Is 2018, the New York poet Ladan Usman takes a snapshot of the year through the many versions of the production. We'll hear from the rap star Falz - whose caustic This Is Nigeria picked up 15 million views, and I-NZ, a rapper of Iraqi origin who challenges the millennial generation to pay more heed to his country and its recent history.

• Presented by Ladan Usman.
• Produced by Monica Whitlock for 麻豆约拍 World Service

Publicity contact: EM3