CHILDISH: Childish Gambino’s new album is subpar.
By Stephen Park, Staff Writer
Donald Glover is the firecracker of the entertainment world—as soon as he appears to get better at a medium he fizzles out and ends up as a cheap and utterly disappointing product. A New York University graduate, Glover began his career writing for the hit television series 30 Rock before running off and joining the cast of the NBC series Community while also performing stand up comedy and making a name for himself in the rap community. This should make him the wonder child of the entertainment business, but unlike celebrity multitaskers like Joseph Gordon Levitt, his talent leaves something to be desired.
Glover’s rap career is by far his most enduring and ambitious project, but also his biggest flop. Urban legend has it that his career began out of spite—he originally intended to create beats for other rappers but was labeled too white in the industry to ever be taken seriously. So in a Slim Shady-esque fashion he raised his middle finger up and rapped over his beats himself. He plugged his name in a Wu-Tang name generator and has since been known as Childish Gambino.
After obtaining some notable acclaim with his first debut release Camp, it seems one is either a Gambino fan or is not. The main challenge against his music is that it’s either too hipster in a rap sense or that it’s simply a collection of straw house arguments. Camp was fueled by piss and vinegar to the “Glover Haters” and while I do not agree with it all, there is some visible ridicule to be had. It’s no surprise that Because the Internet arrived fists raised, ready for the challenge of rap purists who wouldn’t accept Glover. I was looking forward to this album, because Gambino had some features I did thoroughly enjoy that are similar to Chance the Rapper’s last mixtape. Plus, some of the songs he released prior to the album had been a good listen so I expected a change of pace. What I got was a lump of coal instead of a present.
The main gall I have with this album is that Gambino never develops a style of his own. Even with his most enjoyable acts, he seems a step or two behind his contemporaries. Granted, he is still new and juggles an impressive amount of other talents, but remove that novelty and everything is just generic. Being new isn’t an excuse when there are rappers like Chance the Rapper, Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar or even the Flatbush Zombies who are all “new” but have their own unique sets of skills and cadences. Glover just ends up as mediocre in the sea of talented contenders.
But the album isn’t a “normal” album. The LP comes along with a 72-page screenplay intended to be the narrative that Because the Internet acts as a soundtrack for. And while the album does closely parallel the screenplay, the whole experience is underwhelming to say the least. It’s a tale that follows a silver spoon-sucking protagonist, wrecked with a very generic feeling of malaise and depression. The whole thing just ends right there, because there is no backstory or justification, he’s just…sad. It’s not creative or out of the box, it’s generically relatable in the same way grocery store brand sugar flakes remind you of Frosted Flakes but are never good enough to be on the same level. It lacks drive or content. It seems desperate to be cool, like a dad in the midst of his mid-life crisis. There are drugs, crime, “What Does the Fox Say” and WORLDSTAR HIP-HOP references. It’s shallow, confusing and cheap cereal.
That same shallow aspect is a recurring theme throughout this album. The beats are heavily trap-based, which serves as a good backdrop for Gambino’s whimsical style, but it’s too trap-based. And Gambino just isn’t suited to be memorable with these kinds of beats as Danny Brown or the A$ap Mob are. The same goes for the few non-trap beats which are so syruppy (think maple syrup) and boring that it’s hard not to just skip over them. This album has 19 songs, and I can count how many I actually enjoyed on one hand. The bottom line: just buy the single “3005” and forget this album ever existed.
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