By Kasia Pilat
If you’re in Prague or someplace like it during these early months of 2012, while harsh winter winds are literally hitting you hard, it might be easy to feel like you need someone on your side. Someone in your corner of the ring. Someone, perhaps, like Childish Gambino.
“I’m on my ish, call it / I watch these haters take they shots like they were alcoholics.” (From “You See Me.”)
Childish Gambino is the alias of rapper Donald Glover, who you may also recognize from his portrayal of Troy Barnes on the popular NBC series, “Community,” a quirky comedy set in a persistently unremarkable American community college. Since graduating from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing, and aside from rapping as Childish Gambino, Glover has also worked as a comedian, a writer for 30 Rock and The Daily Show, and, via the hashtag #donald4spiderman, a once-candidate to portray The Amazing Spider-Man.
“Couldn’t see me as Spiderman but now i’m spittin’ venom / Now you payin’ attention, pick your fuckin’ face up / When I wanna be a superhero I just wake up.” (From “Not Going Back.”)
Despite the fact that Camp, released this past November, is Glover’s first and only full-length record as Childish Gambino, he somehow managed to construct a legacy for himself before even materializing the music with which to convey it. Regardless of which came first, the fact remains that one of Gambino’s favorite things to rap about is sex, and he does so, extensively and unapologetically.
“Alright it’s Childish, baby, Mr. Talk About His Dick Again.” (From “Backpackers.”)
“I got so many fucking girls, I can’t even count ‘em. / There’s probably six or seven girls who think this song’s about ‘em.” (From “Longest Text Message.”)
“Heartbeat,” one of the most head-banging tracks on the record, is also a vividly graphic, just-under-five-minutes missive to an ex-girlfriend who did Gambino all sorts of wrong. It’s raw and emotional, and, delivered in the growl that Glover somehow also managed to quickly make his own, the song emerges as one of Camp‘s standouts.
I will admit, the album doesn’t deliver a K.O.-hit immediately upon first listen. It creeps up on you instead, with different songs alternately sticking to your brain cells at different times. (For some reason “Heartbeat,” for example, has been pounding through my head all week.) Camp‘s potency stays hidden during the first few listens, but it reveals itself slowly, like a Kubrick film, or a relationship. Perhaps at first you considered the background music too lacking in those big, catchy hooks found in most modern day hip-hop. Slowly but surely, though, more and more subtleties illuminate themselves. Perhaps you, like I, learn to appreciate the sparse yet indomitable drumbeats and choruses because they highlight the lyrical craftwork, always delivered with a tongue in cheek, where Gambino’s self-imposed self-awareness hovers just above our heads. Still need more convincing? Check out the lyrics and video for “Bonfire,” below.
“I’m sorry for who followed me /
Chillin’ with a Filipina, at your local Jollibee /
Yeah, I’m in her ass like sodomy /
So if you see my hand under the table, don’t bother me /
I don’t talk soft, that’s that other guy /
I’m screaming ‘What the fuck is up?’ like I ain’t seen the sky /
The shit I’m doin’ this year? Insanity /
Made the beat then murdered it: Casey Anthony.”
(From “Bonfire.”)
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