NEWS
EVENTS
The Rise Of Donald Glover
RnB/Hip Hop | Monday 18th June 2012 | Osh
So Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino/M.C. Dj is an actor, writer, rapper and comedian. He plays Troy Barnes in the ridiculously funny show Community. He has written and stared in his own movie Mystery Team along with the rest of his Derrick comedy Buddies Dc Pierson and Dominic Dierkes, has had his own one hour stand up special on Comedy Central all at the age of 27. At the age of 21 he worked as a writer to the biggest comedy show in America at the time 30 Rock. During this time he has released multiple mixtapes as well an Ep and an album, Camp. From his first mixtape Sick Boi to the as of yet untitled feature he is currently making, there is always a certain anticipation as to see how he evolves as a rapper. The first time that I heard Childish Gambino was whilst watching the Film Mystery Team. There is a scene in the film were they go to a strip club and while they walk past the strippers there is a song playing, I could tell that the voice was that of Donald so I simply searched online ‘Donald Glover Rapping’. The first thing that came up on the search was the song Freaks and Geeks. From that day I can honestly say that there is no other artist I have followed more than him. Having recently looked at my ITunes I found that I am the proud owner of 197 Childish Gambino tracks, from his mixtapes to his instrumentals as M.C DJ to the release of His critically acclaimed Camp.
However not everyone is a fan of his style of rap. Say the number one point six to a Gambino fan and watch as it provokes emotions of anger to amusement. An album that gained rave reviews from Rolling Stones Magazine and NME to name a few. That One point Six Sticks out like a sore Thumb from an otherwise glowing assessment of the album. It as though Donald Glover expected that he wouldn’t get the best of reviews from pitchfork, going as much as to say in the song ‘All The Shine’ “But Pitchfork Only like Rapper Who Crazy Or Hood Man” in that some album. If you do not know Pitchfolk gave the album a one point six out of ten. A rapper who strays from the conversional Hood rapper, Donald Glover doesn’t feel the need to talk about how much money he has (that comes later) or the car drives. He talks about people disapprove of his new path, from an upcoming comedic writer to a rapper, an actor who could have replaced Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men only to reject the offer in favour of playing small venues.
When you listen to his music you can’t help but realise there is a thinker behind the rapper. From his thought provoking songs such as That Power, L.E.S and All The Shine he is also to show off his rapping skills in songs such as Freaks And Geeks, Bonfire and You See Now he is slowly gaining the respect of raps elite, and when I say elite you can just take out Lil Wayne from that group, he’s lost it. The Elite of the rap genre are ?uestlove and Black Thought The Roots. Two of the foremost respected rappers ever, and to add more to that group he is now waiting to get features from members of Wu-Tang Clang on his mixtapes. Showing that he has reached levels that many aspire to reach but never do. And do not kid yourself when it comes to producing he surpasses the expectations set on him. Apart from The two Mixtapes ‘I Am Just A Rapper’ one and two he has produced or co-produced. That means out of the 197 tracks I own he has produced 185 of those tracks. Apart from J Cole and Big K.R.I.T how many other rappers do so much on their own tracks . . . and do I well
Just take a listen to Freaks And Geeks as proof that this guy is beastly http://youtu.be/otPxoVQiIGo
