For those who’ve known me for a while, you know that I’ve talked about this man like I was giving a sermon at church. For years I’ve preached about the good word of Donald Glover better known as his stage name Childish Gambino. From acting, writing, rapping, and producing, Glover has always been one of the most well rounded artists of our generation.
With an extensive discography, Glover has proven to be one of the most talented artists of our generation but what is his greatest project? Well the obvious answer is the one and only, ‘Because the Internet’.
This album is undoubtedly my favorite album of all time; and yes there is bias due to me being a huge Gambino fan. Prior to the release of the album, Donald released a screenplay, short film titled ‘Clapping for the Wrong Reasons’, and singles to accompany the album. Outside of these projects, Glover even took it a step further and started to act out the character of “The Boy” from the script by wearing the same outfits, out of the public’s eye, and having a reserved personality which was ingenious at the time.
The lead up to this album in 2013 was phenomenal; so well put together until his label tried to push the album back from it’s December release. Glassnote Records wanted to push back the album due to the fear of the project being another “Christmas album” but with the help of a simple hashtag of “#Dondald4December”, his fans took the battlefield and forced his label to release the album and the rest was history.
Now, onto the fun part. So from start to finish, this album is a true masterpiece. From the start of the album, Gambino presents us with the cryptic short track of ‘The Library-Intro’ then comes in the thunderous drums and screams on ‘I.Crawl’. Listening to ‘Crawl’ takes hold of you and and wraps you in a world of astonishment knowing that you are about to listen to one of the best albums of recent history. If you’ve heard the album throughout, you know that the first half is fairly upbeat, lively raps, and honestly the “popular songs” that made it big. Songs such as ‘Sweatpants’, ‘Telegraph Ave.’, and the infamous ‘3005’ were great starts to the album but the second half after ‘3005’? Wow!
The second half of the album takes things a notch in terms of production but ups things in cynical tones, self loathing, and regrets. From here on out, Gambino now shows off why he’s a multi-talented artist. Elegant mixture of singing or rapping on songs such as ‘Pink Toes’, ‘Life: The Biggest Troll’, and ‘The Party’ stand out the most for me or at least at the current time but that differs depending on the day. Sporting a now somber sound in the second act, Gambino is able to take hold of our emotions and honestly do what he does best; which is play with them.
If you know me personally, you know that I preach about this album like it’s a religious scripture. It was the first album I ever saw live so it has a special place in my heart. I won’t dive too much into the meaning of the album since I feel as if it's something that you need to experience yourself after watching, reading, and listening to a good majority of pieces he released that accompanied the album. Below are links to the screenplay script, small videos that came with the script, and short film:
Script Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbtnbtF1l4g
Short Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_bONLcE8IA
Is ‘Because The Internet’ one of your favorite releases by Childish Gambino as well? Let me know what some of your favorite tracks are down in the comments!!
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