11/10/2022 0 Comments Fruity loops 10 serial keyThis is the central flaw of Camp: It’s steeped in Glover’s autobiographical wunderkind entertainer persona (though, may I remind you, he was 27 years old at the time of release), and that persona can be extremely grating at length. And it’s hard to take Glover’s frustration seriously when both his modes are heavily reliant on pop culture references, like boasting “I’ve seen it all, like I’m John Mayer’s penis hole” on “Sunrise.” Throughout the album, Glover is frustrated that his music isn’t taken seriously because of his work in comedy, mentioning people who “keep asking whether this dude’s for real or not” on “All The Shine.” But the success he raps about here is the result of his comedy he was far more famous as Troy Barnes than as a musician at this point in his career. Other struggles aren’t nearly as relatable. Most often, Glover grapples with the unfair expectations laid on him as a Black man, lamenting that he doesn’t feel “hood enough” for barber shops but “we all look the same to the cops” on “Hold You Down.” “Fuck that, boat shoes and a wave cap,” he concludes on “Backpackers,” embracing his own eccentricities as a modest form of rebellion. It’s a vivid scene that could fit into an episode of Atlanta. He depicts growing up in poverty with heart-wrenching detail on album opener “Outside,” recalling sharing a bed with several family members and treasuring a Pizza Hut toy as his parents save up for a home of their own. Like countless rappers before him, Glover grounds his successes in the adversity he overcame. Still, this style of composition can sometimes be a crutch, augmenting subpar aspirational hooks with lush production as a shortcut to profundity. On “Fire Fly,” Glover is high on his fame, proud to be stopped on the street for selfies, as horns add a regal flair to the bassline. With Göransson’s layers of string sections, synth pads, and backing choirs, Camp is one of the few albums to attempt to match the sound of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In the spring, he mounted the 30+ night I Am Donald club tour, leading to fawning profiles with headlines like “ Donald Glover Is More Talented Than You” in which writers marvel at supposed novelties like someone performing both comedy and music in the same show, or a rapper performing with a live band.Ĭamp was released 10 years ago today on Glassnote Records, an indie label fresh off the success of Mumford & Sons and Phoenix. On his two I Am Just A Rapper projects from 2010, Gambino raps over buzzy indie tracks like Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks,” his nasal bars alternately clashing and conforming with the song underneath.īy 2011, Glover had linked up with Community composer Ludwig Göransson as co-producer on his explicitly indie rock-influenced projects, Culdesac and an untitled EP that yielded the no-hook single “Freaks And Geeks.” He had entered himself into a blog-rap wave where artists like Odd Future (note the Earl Sweatshirt reference on “Bonfire”) and Kendrick Lamar (who rapped over a Culdesac instrumental in 2010) offered more idiosyncratic styles than terrestrial radio, all easily downloadable to my iPod. He began releasing Childish Gambino projects independently between his acting commitments. Glover had dabbled in music since his youth in Stone Mountain, Georgia but picked up hip-hop in college after being gifted a copy of Fruity Loops production software and infamously arrived at his rap name after inputting his birth name into a Wu-Tang Clan name generator. Glover was hired to write for Tina Fey’s NBC sitcom 30 Rock while still attending NYU, then made the move to Los Angeles in 2009 for his breakout role as earnest doofus ex-quarterback Troy Barnes on the same channel’s Community. Not many musicians close their debut with a three-minute spoken word passage over Questlove drums, but Childish Gambino’s Camp is the sound of believing your own hype a little too much. That anecdote is a strange but accurate way to summarize an album where Glover’s skills as a rapper and songwriter are deployed with the emotional range of a young teen facing down the end of summer vacation. The preceding 55 minutes of sex boasts and punchline verses, written from the perspective of a 27-year-old rising Hollywood star, aren’t just rap shit. He then explains the lesson: “Make it all for everybody” - reveal everything about yourself, even if that leads to shallow relationships. Donald Glover closes his first album as Childish Gambino by telling an embarrassing story about oversharing his feelings to a crush as a 13-year-old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |