'This is Iraq': Rapper recounts brutal US invasion in viral Childish Gambino remix

An Iraqi rapper has adapted US performer Childish Gambino's politically charged hit "This is America", racking up over half a million views on YouTube in just three weeks.

I-NZ's track "This is Iraq" is a raw take on the widespread violence of the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.

"This is Iraq. Your beginning is your end. Your passport will end you, but don't you dare make a mistake," the 33-year-old raps, as dancing US soldiers reenact well-known atrocities of the Iraq War.

"This is Iraq, look at us blowin' up, nobody showin' up, nobody ownin' up," he says.

The video starts with an elderly man playing the lute, before the US soldiers suddenly descend and force the rapper to execute the old man.

A heavier, more foreboding beat drops, then the video depicts haunting scenes of the war such as torture at Abu Ghraib prison and summary executions of Iraqi men in orange jumpsuits.

In another scene, a man wearing a mask of former US president George W. Bush declares "Mission Accomplished", mocking the infamous speech announcing the supposed end to major combat operations just six weeks into the invasion.

The Dubai-based rapper told VICE's Arabic-language website that the "ugly history" of the war had compelled him to make the video.

"All these horrible images have created an anger inside me. They show the real effect of a foreign invasion of your country," he said.