Essential 2010: Childish Gambino — Culdesac
Childish Gambino’s “Put It In My Video” is hooky, sitar-driven chorus makes it one of the best tracks in 2010.
Comedian Donald Glover cuts out the wakka-wakka with his Childish Gambino persona. The former 30 Rock writer, stand-up jokester and current Community star out Kanyes-Kanye in Culdesac and made a perfect hip hop album for the new decade. You can download it for free here.
Glover asks in the bombastic “Hero” an important question: ”Who else is doing what I’m doing/no one/and I mean girls too/intended no pun.” This is a guy who did sketch comedy in college and put it up on the net, got a job out of college writing for 30 Rock and quit that gig to do acting — and almost immediately landed Community.
While he has all the reasons in the world to be an arrogant ass — writing on 30 Rockis the best post-college gig imaginable — his Childish Gambino persona uses arrogance as catharsis from the increasing spotlight from his newfound fame. Under his nom de guerre, Glover can name drop all he wants and still get out the bi-polar joys and miseries of his increasing success. Unflattering tales of alcoholism are mixed with triumphant tales of success and inspiration. Writing about working with Tina Fey, banging girls (“Put It In My Video” — I’ll get to that in a bit) and “being addicted to this alcohol” are all game.
Culdesac is extremely biographical and voyeuristic. That’s the joy of it. When Glover laconicly sings “I’m not going to live forever/so fuck it all/See all that pussy/I’m going to fuck it all” on “Fuck It All.” It swings wildly, like a coke-fueled all-nighter, from the amazing realizations of success to the lowest lows of inner self-doubt. Though, unlike one of those nights, it ends on a relatively upbeat note and not crying in the fetal position with a bleeding nose.
It’s a cathartic album for both artist and listener. The seeming arrogance in “Hero” is countered by the bedroom confessions in the suspenseful “I’m Alright.” Tightly-wound over a minimal sample slowly expanding outward, Glover laments about getting exactly what he wants: success, long nights and little sleep — and the draining effect it takes on one’s personal life.
A common theme Glover tackles is the conflict between romance, sex and careers. He gets to tell his ex-girlfriend she “fucked up” in “Fuck It All” also still exposes his fears of settling down. He doesn’t want to be alone, but doesn’t want to be tied down — a common conundrum worry made much more epic by the brillaint production work between Glover and producer Ludwig Göransson.
There are some sick, sick beats to be found in Culdesac. “I’ve Got My Money” starts out with Glover singing quiet, a big fat beat hiding in the background. Then he starts spitting out lyrics and it blows up into a powerful club jam — until he goes back to singing, a quiet guitar lick teasing
Glover’s singing voice is great, but hot damn do his vocal gymnastics add to the fantastic “Put It In My Video.” This might be my top track of the year — it’s the perfect rap song. It’s about banging all the women in the world (“I wanna fuck all these small girls minus -sm/that means I wanna fuck all girls — that is wordplay). The sitar and heavy breaks add to an already hooky chorus, and the name drops include such funny people as Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza. It’s a powerful 3-minute pop song that needed to be followed by the dreamy “These Girls.”
It’s a great statement from a dude who’s famous for no reason related to music. He’s the new Will Smith — he’s working a TV show, showing massive rap chops. But unlike the Fresh Prince, Glover’s got tons of comedy writing chops and his raps are way more mature as a result.
