Now Playing (Part I)
Inspired by R. Crumb’s “Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country” and the realization that I haven’t actually drawn anything in months (outside of comics), I decided to post this entry. Hopefully, it’ll become a recurring thing, here - Whenever I can find the time to vent on the music I’m currently listening to, and do a quick illustration of whatever artist has captured my imagination as of late.
The difference between Donald Glover and other rappers has been apparent for awhile now - at the very least since the closing of his 2010 album “Culdesac’s” opening track “Difference,” which set the record up with a nod to the E Street Band: “Springsteen this city, ‘cause this city we were born to run.”
Besides being enough alone to win my heart, the reference is significant because of how much it says about Glover’s mentality - and more importantly, just where he’s coming from. Few rappers make as diverse and thoughtful references in their lyrics, and Glover’s lines fittingly present the hugely eclectic potential of rap as a music - something that’s all-too-frequently forgotten. When he rapped over a hand-full of Indie standards like Animal Collective’s “My Girls” on last year’s “I Am Just a Rapper,” it was obvious he had the musical chops to give even Kanye West a run for his money. And on his latest EP, something else has become more apparent than ever:
Donald Glover is a nerd.
This is, of course, the man-who-would-be-Spiderman, but Glover has never succeeded in building this much Peter Parker-style pathos. The realization that Childish Gambino wasn’t cool in high school is immediate upon noticing the title of track two (“Freaks and Geeks”) - but cuts deep by the beginning of “Lights Turned On,” when he dispenses what seems to be an unfortunately recent revelation: “Girls want what they can’t have/ So I don’t text back when the screen flash.” (Of course, I might just be projecting my own high school foibles with texting etiquette.)
The song continues with typical hip-hop braggadocio, but there’s an atypical darkness beneath it. When he talks about getting girls that he “couldn’t last year,” I get the impression that Glover is hurting more than he’s boasting… When the song gets derailed at its close with a building, pulsating dance beat and Glover interrupts the chorus with the repeated chant “I need to get high,” it sounds less like a rally to party and more like a cry for relief. Because, regardless of all his recent success, Donald Glover is still “getting laid or getting lied to.” The alternative weighs heavy, despite everything.
All together, “Lights Turned On” comes off - like the entire EP, actually - as party music for college kids who had no experience with parties in high school… And who feel more than a little uncomfortable and alienated, despite the new attention. Childish Gambino’s rap feels, with that driving techno beat beneath it, like an inner monologue over a party that - despite perhaps being the center of - Glover feels is occurring off-screen. Like Jesse Eisenberg trying to be heard over the noise of the night-club in “The Social Network.” But again, maybe I’m just projecting.
Either way, the 5-track EP (which is available for free online) is the most relate-able album I’ve heard this year, and I expect the full album, “Camp,” to be even better. Because I think Childish Gambino is one of the most exciting, and frankly honest, voices in rap today. It might be bold to say that “Camp” might be this year’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” but again - that Springsteen reference really got me.
-CR
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caseyroonan posted this
