Abstract

When we discuss the Black man as a psychological subject, we must keep in the forefront of our discussion the fact that ‘alongside phylogeny and ontogeny, there is also sociogeny’; these branches of biological and social systematics lend themselves, as Frantz Fanon argues, to a psychological exploration of the ‘existential deviation [...] white civilization and European culture have imposed’ on the Black man. In this paper, I will argue that not only are wake work and rap forms of ontological resistance against the American hegemony and its systems of oppression, but also reparative solutions to the psychopathology of the Black man’s existential deviation. This paper will explore how Childish Gambino’s existential deviation during his childhood and adolescence is rooted in his inability to be accepted by both his white and Black contemporaries, forcing him to occupy the fringe between the racial communities of Stone Mountain, his childhood home.

Keywords: wake work, hip-hop, Childish Gambino, Frantz Fanon

How to Cite:

Williams, A., (2026) “The Soundtrack to Revolution: Examining Rap as a Resistance Against the Black Man’s ‘Existential Deviation’ in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks”, Moveable Type 16(1): 5, 37–45. doi: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.1755-4527.2290