Gambino impresses with multiple new projects

Few artists can release two albums in one week and still have enough energy to write and produce a television series, but Childish Gambino is a class above his competition. By releasing both an EP and a mixtape with completely different vibes simultaneously, Gambino, born Donald Glover, has placed himself at the forefront of hip-hop, appealing to both hardcore hip-hop fans and experimenting with his sound at the same time.

As an actor, Glover has also been hard at work writing and starring in Atlanta, a show that was picked up by FX. He also has been mentoring both Jaden Smith and Chance the Rapper in their rap careers, leaving many to wonder how anyone has time for it all.

Known for balancing his acting career and his hip-hop persona, Glover has not slowed down since his early days of writing for 30 Rock under the supervision of Tina Fey. He also starred in the TV show Community during this time and put out his first album, Camp. Then, while continuing to act on Community, Glover released Because the Internet along with a side script and short films to accompany the tracks. He also went on tour and began writing a book. Out of all of these projects came two separate music projects, a mixtape (STN MTN), and an EP (“Kauai”).

STN MTN, the Atlanta-oriented mixtape produced by the legendary DJ Drama features Gambino rapping on both his own tracks as well as classics by Lil Wayne and others. It is a vintage  mixtape, with simple production and complex lyrics, showing off his rapping ability as a good mixtape should. It revolves around Gambino’s experiences growing up near Atlanta and opens with a monologue about a dream Gambino had about ruling the city.

Gambino raps “I had a dream I ran Atlanta, and I was on every radio station … Chick-Fil-A will be open on Sundays … Strippers will get Mother’s Day off” and other outlandish statements of a Gambino-run utopia (or dystopia) as he transitions into a rework of fellow Georgia native Ludacris’s “Southern Hospitality.” Though much of the subject matter on STN MTN is politically charged — featuring lyrics about racism in Atlanta — it does not distract from Gambino’s lyrical ability. If anything, this mixtape is Childish Gambino proving that he can rap about almost anything, which is in contrast to the clean production of the album he released in conjunction with STN MTN.

“Kauai” is an EP that features new tracks as well as some old, reworked songs and slam poetry by friend and fellow actor-rapper Jaden Smith. In an interview with Complex, Gambino explained that “Kauai” is the reality that Gambino wakes up to after the dreams of his hometown that make up the STN MTN mixtape released on the same day. With a mix of both 808s and tropical drums, “Kauai” attempts to place the listener in its namesake island in Hawaii, and with Jaden Smith acting as a young Childish Gambino, recounting his memories of beach days in slam prose, this is an impressive, experimental album.

In exchange for borrowing the island vibes of “Kauai,” proceeds from album sales will go to both cleaning up the island and funding the placement of cameras on police uniforms around the country, a cause Gambino has been fighting to combat racism in his hometown of Stone Mountain, Georgia.  The EP doesn’t discuss how Gambino shared his hometown with the second revival of the KKK, but his mixtape discusses it at length. “Kauai” instead focuses on the present and is much lighter, talking about love and the beach for most of the songs.

The Georgia native reworked two songs from his previous albums, including “Love is Crazy” which was reworked into a song called “Retro” and “V. 3005” which Gambino re-released as “V. 3005-Beach Picnic Version.” Though these songs are Gambino’s older work, the new edits show how far his technical and lyrical abilities have come since just last year’s Because the Internet, let alone his Sick Boi mixtape from 2008, Gambino has always been one of the best lyricists in hip-hop, but the verses on this album put him even farther ahead of his competition. One line in the second song, “Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good)” illustrates this point and shows the fun Gambino has with his music.

“Now that we have found this love, baby/ these haters can’t say sh-t/ I know sometimes its hard when I’m so far/ I know you miss this di-love” opens the second verse, and the subtle track skipping at the end of these lines furthers the joke that he wasn’t really going to say love.

There are small technical tricks dispersed throughout this album that make it feel much more intimate, as if the listener is sitting in on the last recording session before the album’s release.

With Gambino’s blend of soul and hip-hop and his experimentation with island music, “Kauai” has no real comparison, and it isn’t his only project at the moment, making it all the more impressive. Between acting, writing and rapping, it seems there’s nothing Glover can’t do, and STN MTN/”Kauai” only serves to emphasize that.

 

Matt Burke is a sophomore majoring in film production. His column, “Notes on Notes,” runs Thursdays.