Donald Glover is a TV star, who raps like to rap on the side under the alias Childish Gambino. He's bound to be terrible right? WRONG! As the title suggests Gambino is in fact a mastermind and everyone needs to accept that. With his first purchasable album 'Camp' Glover has proven he is a force to be reckoned with on the rap scene and I don't use cliched phrases like that all the time, so it shows I'm serious.
Now I may be slightly biased in this review because prior to listening to any Gambino I was already a massive fan of Glover because of 'Community' (Keep it on the air!), but I don't know if that has made me believe he is a great rapper or he is actually just great. Hopefully the latter because from listening to 'Camp' it seems he is a pretty incredible rapper.
Starting things off is a track called 'Outside', in which he talks a lot about race and his family/childhood. It's a fantastic opening track that feels almost like a choir when the chorus kicks. Gambino raps and sings on this track and starts things off on a positive note. Then we have track 3 'Bonfire', which (without getting to ahead myself) might just be my favourite track of 2011. It's pure genius with Glover references ranging from 'Human Centipede' to Princess Diana, which actually had me laughing. Eminem is the only rapper I can think of that has me laughing repeatedly during a song so mixing this humour with a powerful chant playing as backing beat, combines to an outstanding single.
Music video for 'Bonfire'.
Continuing with the positives 'Letter Home' is a short, but enjoyable song showing the soft side to Childish. It's a bit sappy, but so easy to listen to with Glover showcasing a damn fine singing voice, which certainly surprised me. Then we see the aggressive Gambino who is obsessed with sex and his c*ck, with the awesome club tune 'Heartbeat'. This may be a bit mainstream for the die hard Gambino fans, but this is 148 times better than anything played in clubs at the moment. Following this Glover mixes it up with straight up rap 'Backpackers', which along with the miniature story 'That Power', 'Hold You Down' and 'Kids Keep Up' are more highlights.
There are a couple of more forgettable tracks, which aren't bad they're just not as great as the others songs. This is a minor complaint because I still enjoyed songs like 'Firefly' and 'All The Shine', they just didn't match the quality of everything else. Chances are these songs will grow on me as with Gambino's lyrics you notice things every time you listen, which either wow you or just make you laugh. What can be said about these for songs for certain is that they have great choruses and catchy beats, its just Donald gets a bit lost in them, which is a shame.
'Camp' has to be bought and listened to. Then buy it again. And listen again and again and again to support this up and coming rapper. Who knows, if you buy his album and popularity is raised, then maybe more people will watch 'Community' and it won't get cancelled. Unlikely? Yes, but I'm remaining optimistic. Even if this horrifying event does come, Donald Glover will be just fine because he has a more than healthy rap career to fall back on. Childish Gambino is ready to change up the stale and repetitive music industry!
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