Review Summary: Poppin pills at the Coachella
*** it, I just wanna feel something
Understanding Childish Gambino's success up until this point is pretty straightforward. He's a highly relatable artist, in an extremely heart on your sleeve way, whose delivery and presence makes him entertaining and humorous. His lyrics also showcase his seemingly innate sense of culture and trends as well as his intelligent background (I mean, he's kinda my role model in the way he went from NYU to trying rap to 30 Rock to Community to making really good music). But one of the reasons artists like him, Mac Miller, Ab Soul, Schoolboy Q, etc. are all becoming some of my favorites in hip hop is a little abstract - I feel like rap is nearing a really unique point in its short existence, equivalent to what psychedelics did to rock in the 60s and 70s. Sure Chance the Rapper and "Acid Rap" (which is great) are a part of it, but I’m talking about artists like Mac who are instilling increasingly surreal and atmospheric vibes to their production as well as their lyrics. Rapping about ayawaska for ***s sake - but not in a pretentious "whats the meaning of life" type of way - moreso in a really unique and resonating manner. I think raps history being as short as it is, deserves more attention. Think about the fact that we're only NOW seeing how "old" rappers cope with the change in age, culture or music (Jay Z, Nas, Eminem). Or young rappers deal with mind enchaining drug use (not molly, coke, etc but shrooms, acid, DMT). I think its a crucial time in hip hop right now. Rap is basically going through a mid life crisis - and it looks like the counter culture is going to dive with no inhibitions straight into psychedelic hip hop. The last wave of 20 year olds rapping were totting guns and gang signs not doing DMT and ayawaska.
Everything just kept going, and going and going
Enter, “Because the Internet”, Childish Gambino's follow up to his well received major label debut, “Camp”. Although Glover states that one of the problems with the world is that we "see doors" at all, I won't hesitate to say that this album just blew open the doors that Mac Millers fantastic LP “Watching Movies With the Sound Off” and equally engaging and even more eccentric mixtape “Delusional Thomas”, along with Kanye West's “Yeezus” or Danny Brown's “Old” started to edge open. Not to say that this album is a mix of those sounds exactly, but more in regard to the ideology or mindset surrounding the aesthetic. It's the album I've been waiting for.
All she needed wassum
Gambino manages to make an endlessly engaging album by featuring zealous yet subtle production and unique song/album structure - even including a built in play that will add another dimension to the album once the script is released. A major change in themes and focus allow for more eclectic content than ever before. He’s spanning centuries as he visits the future, deals with a world of no gods but more spirituality and struggles with the elusive nature of knowledge, among other existential musings, and he showcases a perfected hold over his vocals, from the surprisingly great Frank Ocean inspired soulful crooning on many tracks, such as the drug laced "Pink Toes" or the groovy “Shadows”, to the effortless syllabic tricks on "The Party" or the relentless energy of "Sweatpants". With only one other rap feature (who doesn't even rap on the track), and minimal features in general, the whole affair rests squarely on Gambino’s shoulders - but he’s so lost in meditation that I doubt he notices. It's an exhausting experience at first , but with repeated listens the eccentricities and nuances (and there're plenty) prove to be more and more rewarding.
We are all cold water. Why try at all? Why bother?
There are flaws in a few verses or stylistic choices (the interludes on "Worldstar" for example), but the albums abundant highlights, a product of realized ambition, prove to be more integral. From the coke laced atmosphere of "Zealots of Stockholm (Free Information)", to the oddly poetic verses on "No Exit" and Earth: The Oldest Computer (The Last Night), there's a desperate and sometimes depressing air always lingering around. A want for more knowledge or enlightenment than available being the likely cause - like when he ponders death on "Flight of the Navigator". There are influences from Kanye West's “The College Dropout” to “Yeezus”, his friend/collaborator Chance, Drake and Frank Ocean to even Death Grips (and probably a bunch of other more obscure indie *** only he knows about in his home as a recluse) - but the point is: this mesh of soul yet cold detachment, happiness yet disillusionment, singing really well and rapping even better (and sequencing the endlessly captivating production even better yet) has resulted in one of the most interesting releases in what is already one of my favorite years of hip hop that I've actively followed.
Breathe in, breathe out, mi amor
There is a story hidden in this album somewhere, under the (sometimes heavy handed) "I don't know who I am anymore" musings. Songs are referenced in other songs, there're roman numerals indicating acts and there's a script to come. So until then, I'll be playing Free Information on repeat and wondering how this is a mix of Channel Orange, Camp and utter beautiful, inexplicable, randomness. How each interlude adds something to the aesthetic (even if it’s just five seconds long), how the outro to “telegraph” is just as good as the one for “New Slaves” and how excited I am to witness the next few years of this genre.
Here are my initial ratings:
1. ‘The Library (Intro)’ - N/A
2. I. ‘The Crawl’ - 9/10
3. II. ‘worldstar’ - 7.5/10
4. ‘Dial Up’ - N/A
5. I. ‘The worst guys’ (Featuring Chance The Rapper) - 8.5/10
6. II. ‘shadows’ 8.5/10
7. III. ‘telegraph’ (“Oakland” by Lloyd) - 9.5/10
8. IV. ‘sweatpants’ - 9.5/10
9. V. ’3005′ - 8.5/10
10. ‘Playing Around Before The Party Starts’ - N/A
11. I. ‘The Party’ - 9.5/10
12. II. ‘no exit’ - 10/10
13. ‘Death By Numbers’ - N/A
14. I. ‘Flight of The Navigator’ - 10/10
15. II. ‘zealots of stockholm’ (free information) - 10/10
16. III. ‘urn’
- 8/10
17. I. ‘pink toes’ (Featuring Jhene Aiko) - 9.5/10
18. II. ‘earth: The oldest computer (The last night)’ [Featuring Azealia Banks] - 9.5/10
19. III. ‘life: The biggest troll’ (andrew auernheimer) - 9.5/10
9.1/10
