Every once in a while I’ll find a new artist that just needs to be heard by the masses. A few weeks back actress Alison Brie suggested via twitter that I should download the Childish Gambino mixtape, entitled I Am Just A Rapper. My life’s been hectic but I finally got to listen to the tape yesterday and it blew me away. I Am Just A Rapper is exactly the kind of rap the market needs more of; it’s both fun and intelligent without losing it’s edge.
Upon a minimal amount of investigation I discovered that Childish Gambino was in fact Don Glover, Brie’s costar on the show Community. Before Community, Glover wrote for 30 Rock, eventually earning himself a Writer’s Guild of America Award. He is also one third of the Derrick Comedy Troupe; the group released their first feature length film over the summer. The film, entitled Mystery Team, was a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival a year ago. All of these probably seem like weird credits for an aspiring rapper but they are exactly what makes Childish Gambino so great.
Glover has an appreciation for indie rock music that is prevalent on I Am Just A Rapper. Rather than spitting over typical beats or recycled radio tracks, Gambino uses songs from Grizzly Bear, Sleigh Bell and, on the album’s bonus track “Turd in the Oven,” Vampire Weekend. The end result is a mixtape that I’ve replayed 3 times in 48 hours, one filled with witty punch lines sure to impress those who enjoy lyrical rap.
“Now, I’m all gassed up like Exon, girls see the money like I fuckin’ got checks on” offers Glover on “49ers.” While on “My Girls,” a song that uses Animal Collective music as its template, Gambino spits “I love these hipster girls and they feel the same. Now they don’t have to choose when someone ask them Drake or Wayne.” Later Gambino barbs “sleep on me that is a coma,” well I’ll tell you this much, I’m not sleeping on him any more. And you shouldn’t either!
