Childish Gambino doesn't need any introductions. Some of you might know him as that sorta-but-not-really funny comedian/actor from Community. Some of you might know him as the nerdy hipster who wants to be taken seriously as a rapper.
Gambino dropped Camp a year or so ago to pretty decent reviews. I personally thought the album sucked. But I can see why some of you are into it. Childish Gambino is following the mold of Odd Future in that he doesn't want to be a stereotypical rapper, he just wants to be himself. Which there's nothing wrong with that if it's executed correctly.
But the thing with Childish Gambino and his music is that it's STOOPID. I don't really mess with his music, like at all. But I figured I could give him another chance. Maybe he stops rapping in that "I'm ironically rapping" voice? Maybe he extends his act beyond "I'm not a rapper but I wanna be taken seriously as a rapper while at the same time not acting like a black person but I hate when people tell me I'm not black enough I'm just myself and I like Asians and have lots of sex but let me throw in something here and there about racism to show you I can be serious too" Man idk.
Side bar: 2013 has been too much. I'm all about big names releasing albums, but what in the entire hell is 2014 going to look like? Literally everyone and their moms have released an album this year. And 80% of those albums have suuuuccckkkkeeeed. Mostly looking at Yeezus.
So let's head into this album and see if it can join Long.Live.A$AP, Wolf, My Name Is My Name and MMLP2 as the good albums to come out this year. I now present you with:
Because The Internet Review
1. The Library (Intro)
Tryna waste 5 seconds of your life?
2. Crawl
5 seconds into this song and the beat is already better than anything on that trashcan Camp. The hook is nice too. But Childish Gambino isn't really saying anything at all on here. Like he's stringing together words and making them rhyme, but there's not really any substance to it. Not every song has to have a subject though, just look at 60% of Eminem's catalog, but I don't even get what Childish Gambino is trying to accomplish here unless it's to intentionally sound stupid, which is such a waste because this song had a looooot of potential. But apparently this is following along with the screenplay he wrote for this album. Oh gosh this is going to be one of those "You just don't get it" Yeezus type situations.
3. WORLDSTAR
Childish Gambino better slow down on these fire beats or he's going to alienate his fan base. I'm a fan of THIS Childish Gambino. He's keeping with the whole "internet" theme and exposing how anyone can get famous off of a stupid video. I think? Whatever, I'm a fan of it. There's a few moments in the song where he starts to go off track for the sake of rhyming, but he comes back in. Then the beat at the end switches up into some illustrious elegance, sounding like a lonely rainy day on that Hey, Arnold show. Super jazzy and sweet. Take away the first 3 minutes of this song and only keep this beautiful outro and we have the song of the year. Let this snazzy jazzy outro engross all of your senses and enjoy the ride.
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4. Dial Up
There's no reason for this to be here.
5. The Worst Guys (Feat. Chance The Rapper)
Ion really listen to Chance The Rapper like that, but he doesn't really have a presence on the song because he's singing harmoniously with Gambino on the hook. The beat is silky smooth and enjoyable, building on that unnecessary "Dial Up" interlude. I did, however, really appreciate the "apartheid" line. Nas would've found a way to make that historically inaccurate, but I thought it was a clever little line. Childish Gambino fans won't get that though. Look it up and educate yourselves. YOU AIN'T DO THE EDUCATION. But yeah, this song is tight.
6. Shadows
This sounds like a leftover cut from Camp, which means I don't have to spend anymore of my valuable time listening to it!
7. Telegraph Ave ("Oakland" By Lloyd)
Can't wait to never listen to this again.
8. Sweatpants
Now normally when you see a song titled "Sweatpants", your expectations are historically low. The song was okaaaaaaaaay. Not really bringing anything to the table other than existing. He's making fun of rich people and the culture in case you need someone to spell it out for you or if your were feeling like tweeting him, "@DonaldGlover U CHANGED BRUH WHY DOSE THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN? SELL OUT #mad #upset #waistofmoney"
9. 3005
So this is the first official single off the song. The beat sounds like the theme song from Rugrats or something like that. I also don't support Gambino singing at all. Basically go listen to any song off of Nothing Was The Same and simultaneously listen to the Rugrats theme and you'll have this song.
10. Playing Around Before The Party Starts
Make this about 3 minutes longer and you'd have a buttery smooth track.
11. The Party
So I guess the party started????? CLEVER!! I don't really support the hook at all but he goes in for a solid 30 seconds. Silver linings people!
12. No Exit
This song sounds like torture porn.
13. Death By Numbers
Sweet another song where nothing happens!
14. Flight of the Navigator
MAN I DON'T KNOW. I don't really support anything like this at all. This is just STOOPID. I couldn't hit the skip button fast enough.
15. Zealots of Stockholm (Free Information)
Can we call him Yeezus Gambino yet? Because I definitely see what he's been doing. He also tried to get a little deep and touch on the "same-sex"marriage and his doubts about religion. But don't be fooled into thinking he's about to drop some mad philosophy. All style no substance here.
16. Urn
Sounds like a 90s R&B song, and not one of the classics. I don't understand why he feels the need to waste our time like this. At least he stopped doing his Kanye impression and moved on to The Weeknd.
17. Pink Toes (Feat. Jhene Aiko)
Yeezus Gambino, The Creator. That's all you need to know about him. But Jhene Aiko comes in with her silky smooth voice. Woooooooo, take off that identity crisis having mofo and let Jhene Aiko sing this whole thing.
18. Earth: The Oldest Computer (The Last Night) (Feat. Azealia Banks)
Childish Gambino is trying to be Tyler, The Creator, Drake, Yeezus, and now Kid Cudi. MAN BE YOURSELF. He's like Game man, just tries to be like other people. This sucks.
19. Life: The Biggest Troll
This song is better than the last 13 songs, but it's not anything to get excited about. Thankfully he's not really having his identity crisis on this song. But yeah I don't exactly need to ever hear this song ever again. Maybe I just don't understand why rappers are dying to use futuristic space beats/themes.
So we got through the album and it sucked. Which is weird because the first 5 songs were great. Childish Gambino reeeaaaallllllyyyyy needs to figure out who he wants to be. Because Kid Yeezus Gambino, The Creator isn't cutting it at all. But let's talk about the positives! His voice has improved a lot, along with his lyrics. The beats are a lot better. And if this album had only been 5 songs long it would've been the best joint all year. But alas, he fell into the trap that a lot rappers fall into, which is releasing an album with too many songs. And this one was about 14 songs too long.
Also, I didn't realize it until just now that Indicud was released this year. Totally forgot about that album. Wanna know why? Because it was awful.
Final Score: 2/5
