Ty Listens to Childish Gambino's "Awaken, My Love!"
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Last Friday, December 2nd, Childish Gambino released his third album, "Awaken, My Love!".
I adore this record.
For those that do not know, Childish Gambino is Donald Glover's alter rap ego. Glover is an actor, comedian, creator, writer, director, and rapper. He is one of the most talented performers working today. I became aware of his rapping about 7 years ago. He was deep in his run on "Community", and I had heard rumblings that he was going to put out a record, and had some mixtapes that were floating around the internet. I was intrigued. I first thought it was going to be jokey rap, a la The Lonely Island, but I could not have been more wrong. I listened to some of the mixtapes and tracks he released before his first album, and they were very good.
When he released his debut album, "Camp", I was blown away. This was a full-fledged rap record. It was not jokey or goofy in any way. It was a straight up rap album, and it was good. Glover proved that he was a very good, sometimes great, rapper. I loved this first album. I was surprised, but in a very good way.
Then, a few years later, he released his second record, "Because the Internet". This was a departure from "Camp", but I found myself enjoying it just as much, just in a different way. "Because the Internet" showed Glover taking more, spacier chances. The record had longer instrumentals, which I like. Glover also talked primarily about how social media, and other things that are on the internet, are more problematic than they are good. I thought it was a very good second step. He showed his fans that he could do something different, but still be easy to digest. The guest list on "Because the Internet" was made great simply by putting Chance the Rapper on some tracks.
Glover took a long time away from music after "Because the Internet". "Community" was done, but he was acting and developing his phenomenal new show, "Atlanta". He had other things on his mind, and those other things were all great. I missed his music, but the stuff he was doing made it not as bad as I thought it would.
Pretty much right after the first season of "Atlanta" had its season finale, which I cannot say enough great things about, it is the best new show on TV, Glover announced he had a new record coming out. I was stoked. I listened to the early release of some of the songs, and I was even more intrigued. It sounded way different than anything else he had done previously. The songs were not rap songs, but more so in the funk genre. Needless to say, I purchased the album the morning it came out, and I have listened to it almost as much as I have listened to the new Tribe record.
"Awaken, My Love!" is tremendous. Like I said, it is so much different from his other stuff. The opening track has a 2-minute instrumental intro, with very little singing, and then Glover comes in and basically sings a rock song. It is wonderful. Glover, who I will refer to as Gambino for the rest of this piece, proves that he can sing, as well as rap. I love his vocals on this track. "Have Some Love" is a straight up Parliament song. George Clinton himself probably wishes he wrote this track. It is so, so good. The song is so funky and groovy, and Gambino sounds like Clinton, and the band sounds like Parliament. We get another great funk song, "Boogieman". The song has a creepy groove, and Gambino sings it with almost a Dracula-ish voice. It is tremendous. The album only gets better from there. Some other notable tracks are "Redbone", "California" and "Stand Tall". "Redbone" is probably the best song on the whole record. It is the best put together, it sonically sounds the best, the lyrics are great and poignant and Gambino is perfect on this song. It is the true standout on an album filled with great songs. "California" is a weird, groovy, funky and, at times, Gambino's first "silly" song. The lyrics talk about a lady that wants to move to California, and Gambino tells of all the ills that could come her way if she does. The beat and the instrumentation are awesome. The closing track, "Standing Tall", is a perfect ending to this new Gambino sound. The lyrics, instruments, sound, everything about this song are perfect. "Standing Tall" closes out the record excellently.
After 6 or 7 fully listened through times, "Awaken, My Love!", reminds me of a mix between Parliament, Saul Williams and Andre 3000, from "The Love Below". This album is an incredible departure from what we, the fans, have come to expect from Childish Gambino. I truly do not know of any single performer/artist that is doing the wonderful, challenging and different things that Childish Gambino/Donald Glover is doing right now, and "Awaken, My Love!", is one of the best things he has done in a year that has seen him do some great things. This album is one of the good things to happen in 2016. I hope Childish Gambino continues to push the envelope and try new and odd things as a musician. But, with that being said, go out and buy this album right now, it is awesome.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He feels like we lost a lot of great musicians in 2016, but we have gained some great music in the last part of the year. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.
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