Anyone else hear the new Childish Gambino record?

It's strangely good, granted I don't know jack about rap.

He's a much better beat chemist than he is a rapper, but it's interesting to see a wholly different side of someone I only know from sitcom tv.

being somewhat famous probably stunts it

"I'd die for my hood... Trayvon"

http://www.iamdonald.com/post/20343305161

I have been listening to Childish for a couple years now, love all his stuff...But this just doesn't seem like him.

I have been listening to Childish since episode 5 season 1 of Community

Really, ppp? I can't stand his music, am I missing something?

right after I posted my post I got scared that someone would think it was a real post

haha

ok

So now he's trying to be a (still punchline-based) southern rapper? Ugh.

whiney it cannot be a coincidence that you pledged a twitter hiatus and then literally hours later childish gambino drops a track grocery bagging trayvon martin. the universe is testing you, i fear you are to be a modern-day Job.

More like Gob.

tina fey raps on new childish gambino mixtape

Shame the thread from the sandbox had to stay there.

new album is called "because the internet"

Listening to an early leak now; not quite the rhyming skills as Kid Cudi or Jay Electronica, but still, this is a pretty fine slab for a TV actor/comedian (Donald Glover).

As i continue to listen, this record may render many of the early "Best of 2013" lists obsolete.

i shudder to think if it's even possible to have inferior rhyming skills to the guy who wrote this verse

http://youtu.be/QCi5YmAiiw4?t=3m46s

bodacious ignoramus

no great interest in hearing dude's new album, but:

Would your ideal eventual career path eventually mirror someone like Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld, Will Smith or Drake?

I want to be something completely different from everyone on that list.

Now, excluding Tina Fey from that list. Fuck, marry, kill.
Drake's my boy, but he would not be fun to fuck, that would be really sad. I'd probably fuck Will Smith because he's ripped. I'd marry Jerry Seinfeld because he's so fucking rich. So by process of elimination, I'd have to kill Drake.

Got 5 copies of this on red vinyl at the record store today. eBay prospectors were out in droves, those five copies lasted five minutes. I saw one go for $270 on eBay today; we were selling 'em for thirty bucks. Yikes

waht

Yup, reddit.com/r/vinyl gold

Numbered edition of 800

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Childish-Gambino-Because-the-Internet-Double-Vinyl-Bootleg-Numbered-Red-/301039950403?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item4617611a43

Wow, I just encountered someone who is unfamiliar with tv/movie Donald Glover and only knows of Childish Gambino as a new rap artist. Of course those people are out there, but I never figured I'd have one in my own sphere of friends.

that's gonna be more and more common. he's had a top 10 album, he's never been on a top 10 show.

Weird, I had no idea he was really taking off.

Last year I put out a call for the Internet to find me one Childish Gambino fan who wasn't also a Community fan. And a lot of people on Twitter tried, or thought they knew an exception, but ultimately not one could do it; the overlap between the two fanbases was 100%.

Obviously that's going to change now, but for the longest time it drove me nuts that the rap press treated this guy like a real rap act when clearly he was a TV tie-in. It would be like treating The Simpsons as an interesting musical sensation because Simpsons Sing the Blues sold some copies.

that might've been just your twitter circle, though. he definitely had music fans who've never seen the show, even before the last album.

as much as i'm not a fan, the tv tie-in thing is unfair. it's not like he was making rap songs about Community.

seems way harder for actors to get taken seriously as musicians than vice versa.

xxp I'm sure it was an age thing; if I followed more college sophomores one of them probably would have known some quiet kid in the dorm with a hard drive full of rap but no TV. But it was (and remains) silly the way some rap sites act like this guy's preexisting celebrity and built-in fanbase from the most cultishly adored show on television has nothing to do with his following

Listening to Because the Internet for the first time right now, and it's a marked improvement over the last time I heard him doing this.

seems way harder for actors to get taken seriously as musicians than vice versa.

usually that's true, but it's different when you're a vaguely comic rapper rapping about the same geeky subject matter as the TV show you star in

Like, I personally hear Troy Barnes trying on a rap guise as a gag, but to someone who's never watched Community, this is good enough to be a legit rap album.

as much as i'm not a fan, the tv tie-in thing is unfair. it's not like he was making rap songs about Community.

― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, February 5, 2014 4:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree w/ this, although it is funny that most of his stuff is produced by the Swedish dude who composes background music for Community

Hugh Laurie doesn't sing blues songs about ethically challenged doctors, either, but that doesn't mean 95% of the crowd at his show didn't watch House

But it was (and remains) silly the way some rap sites act like this guy's preexisting celebrity and built-in fanbase from the most cultishly adored show on television has nothing to do with his following

ok, that makes sense.

although it is funny that most of his stuff is produced by the Swedish dude who composes background music for Community

totally, and that dude should be the real star here.

Hugh Laurie doesn't sing blues songs about ethically challenged doctors, either, but that doesn't mean 95% of the crowd at his show didn't watch House

presumably you mean "at his show in America" here

Haha, my bad, didn't mean to insult the U.K. and Jeeves and Wooster fans around the world, sorry about that

is this album better or worse than Camp? Because that one was god-awful.

The half of it I listened to today was better than Camp imo.

(way better known in .au for Blackadder and A Bit Of than as an inappropriate Bertram [Ionicus or gtfo imo])

Did not listen to Childish's last 6 years of output, however have just had a listen to these fantastic two new tracks Redbone and Me and Your Mama.

Loving the Pink Floyd and Funkadelic vibes

Redbone is definitely 2016's best Prince track.

new album through the first four tracks a psych-funk groove for sure

I think it's great - ignore the haters who wanted a trap album. I think it's a bold move and am happy to see him stretch himself as an artist, too.

Haven't looked at the credits or anything, but curious to see who may have played on it/produced some of it.

Love Questlove's instagram post about it, too https://www.instagram.com/p/BNgjtqdBrnE/?taken-by=questlove

I'm happy that this isn't a trap album, just a little befuddled at the panegyrics this has been met with on some «whoah! live instrumentation! how rare!» ish. It's pleasant enough to listen to, but nothing I feel a particular urge to put on.

I don't like it very much AND I'm glad it wasn't trap. Redbone is fucking amazing, though.

It's pleasant enough to listen to

I... don't know if I'd go that far. That voice could peel wallpaper.

cool cool cool. except I haven't.

you said the brechtian distancing isn't doing its job. I said it is. thousands of people are having conversations about the song & its message & its politics just like we're having. people talking about themes within and adjacent to the song before the song existed is not some deficiency of the song's.

it's true, you said the sentiment of the line is trite, which to me is a very broad complaint and completely elides the poetry and placement of the line, but you also said "in almost those exact words." Which exact words? And I'd argue that, yes, the line is forceful (not necessarily "more" forceful) embedded in the "play and juxtaposition of phrases." the specific words are important because poetry isn't horseshoes.

his face has nothing to do with whether the line is good or not.

except that i think that gambino's is delivered with a wink and a nod, an ironic distance that says "look when i'm talking about materialism i don't mean it, i'm criticizing that people talk about guns and money as the problem, as the distraction while the real stuff is happening elsewhere," which is precisely what's denying that these same themes and issues are elsewhere, but presented without that sort of dimestore brechtian distancing, and often more genuinely and sharply, while this is all reflected through so much artifice that it doesn't feel like it connects to me -- it represents connecting, and it simulates making a statement. moves right past brecht to baudrillard.

this is the decoder ring shit - your own, not unnamed critics. this is what I mean by a calculus & you're the one that brought this mode of criticism & appreciation (or lack of) to the thread. you've made yourself the arbiter of when gambino is being ironic & how ironical he's being; you're putting words in gambino's mouth and evaluating how sincere he is or isn't being; you're talking about themes like they're manipulable units, as if identifying what's being talked about in art robs it of its power.

& you clearly make comparative mentions not only to other rap tracks.

remove "not only" bc I don't need to get into it

"you've made yourself the arbiter of when gambino is being ironic"

you mean i've attempted to perform a critical reading of a text? go home.

https://media2.giphy.com/media/xTiTnJ3BooiDs8dL7W/giphy.gif

^^ new borad description tbf

The video is so good. Wish the lyrics were as powerful but I’m all in for this new phase of CG after not being a fan of his previous works.

Like the song but Glover seems like a bit of an egotist

https://78.media.tumblr.com/12b64ae950e7310945e9941ae07863be/tumblr_ncc65lyqzQ1s2wio8o1_500.gif

This is America vid feels very Kendrick-lite to me

nothing wrong with Kendrick being an influencer IMO particularly for songs and/or videos that have this kind of wide viewership

"dimestore brechtian distancing"

as opposed to threepenny brechtian distancing?

Xpost: agreed. Idk if Kendrick-lite is meant as an insult but more rappers emulating him is desirable imho.

this is all reflected through so much artifice that it doesn't feel like it connects to me -- it represents connecting, and it simulates making a statement.

I guess this was my takeaway, too; the video had me thinking more about its production and technical aspects than it “connected” emotionally or intellectually (but seems I’m in the minority, and it’s not a hill I’ll die on). There certainly are a lot of “decoder rings” all over YouTube, etc. I’m sure that’s part of the point with all the signifiers, to get people learning about things they maybe weren’t aware of.

jfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUWq_aBiE_s&feature=youtu.be

link doesn't work for me

doesn’t even sync up that well

I think the buy-in point is the gun firing when the chorus starts.
Anyway it’s a positive “jfc” from me

uuuh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW8whgmyTNU

oh my god

dying at the thumbs up/down ratio there.

https://i.imgur.com/xdIwcrr.jpg

It's terrible, obviously, but I also have no clue what she is "singing".

I browsed her youtube channel a bit and I think she may be a kind of career youtube troll, and a really boring one at that

#1 on the Hot 100.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUWq_aBiE_s

What about Gambino's version? x-post

Is this a reach?

This will largely be overlooked but it sounds like same damn song and this was released a few years prior.

Has this been discussed? https://t.co/kqTSH4fTrv

— Baby Freeway 🇧🇷🇳🇬 (@RappersRActors) June 24, 2018

Initial reaction was yeah but repeat listens has me questioning

I don't know, but it's a good track.

Great track that happens to have the same flow, same subject matter and strikingly similarly stripped down percussive trap beat with vocal chants.

Either way the artist seems to be cool with it so may as well leave it at that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkc_rJJg27q/?hl=en&taken-by=jaseharley

I feel like Weird Al needs to make a parody of 'This is America' (partly because the music video would be great).
What would it be titled?

I feel like he doesn't

i feel like he needn't make any more music ever again but i realize i'm in the minority on that one

This is Antarctica.

Love this is America

Love this is America Style

new video is neat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1B9Fk_SgI0

The aesthetic is kinda simpsonswave.

track really nails the sound it's evidently aiming for but the song could be better

guy rly does have a messiah complex but i liked the cheerfully slight guava island: v deliberate leftwing fable, indulgently pretty (loved the aspect and the fake? 16mm grain, but the rounded edges were a bit much), funny, short, casually zero white people. rihanna is underused i guess but i kind of admired the willingness to underuse rihanna. chops provided by nonso anozie, whom i recognized immediately but couldn't place-- he's done lear and othello so naturally it turned out what i'd seen him in is a bit part in s1 game of thrones. anyway, just nice to watch something tropical.

the first article i found while googling around to figure out if it was actually shot on 16 was an all-hands-on-deck DONALD GLOVER DOESN'T UNDERSTAND CAPITALISM. CAPITALISM HAS LIFTED BILLIONS OUT OF POVERTY. IN 1900 THE AVERAGE WAGE WAS ONLY $3. AS JONAH GOLDBERG WRITES IN "THE DECLINE OF THE WEST", etc., so well done there.

it's Murai, right? he does so much digital grading on his other stuff that I'd assume the same here. 16mm instagram filter.

yeah. too bad imo.

Apparently Donald Glover Presents was streamed this weekend. I haven't heard it yet, anyone have some thoughts?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/donald-glover-surprise-release-new-album-967548/

That article is out of date, as the stream apparently disappeared later in the day.

It’s back up. Listening now. It’s .... really fucking good?

This is amazing. One of the best records of the year on first listen, and quite the zeitgeist record at that.

finally hearing this and it is great. my fav stuff from this guy yet for sure.

I keep hearing Redbone in public and it's always a pleasure. Feels like it has really lasted beyond its time and become a classic

Me too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj0drevGOgA

nothing exemplifies the vapid posturing of a lot of “creative” types during the trump era better than childish gambino dropping this and then joining the andrew yang campaign the following year https://t.co/06pLCPZWwm

— Fred Barrett (@fred_beretta) April 30, 2023