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DOPE ON PLASTIC PRESENTS: Childish Gambino At Bonnaroo
Posted by: Necci – Aug 04, 2011
I guess it’s been long enough now that I should go ahead and start getting through my Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 2011 coverage, but having learned my lesson after writing that Starscape 2011 review, I think I’ll just stick to one event per post when it comes to festivals from now on. This was one of the first performances I covered at Bonnaroo, but even so, it has managed to stick with me as probably the best show I witnessed that weekend.
Childish Gambino is the rapping persona of popular actor/comedian/model/writer Donald Glover. You might recognize him from his incredible stand up. Or from his role as Troy Barnes on NBC’s Community. Or as a regular model for Band Of Outsiders and Gap. Or as one of the genius writers for 30 Rock. I didn’t know any of this, however, when I was first introduced to his rapping persona—and I think that’s exactly how he wants it.
By far, the most pervasive theme in his music is the concept of reinventing oneself, and then gloating about it when that You 2.0 is extremely wealthy, popular with women, and loved by thousands of fans. He makes no effort to hide the fact that he used to be teased as the only black kid in private school, or that girls were never attracted to him when he was younger, but instead chooses to contrast that with how untouchably awesome he is today—and it’s inspiring. Much of mainstream hip hop that ascribes to the “I’ve always been this good” camp of lyricism won’t touch his music, and many went as far as to voice their doubts about him ever succeeding in the field, but just about every single hip hop fan who can’t identify with the fabulous extravagance of MTV rappers has fallen in love with the rags-to-bitches story of Childish Gambino.
Of course, he never abandons the fact that his background is acting, and it shows in his incredibly involving stage performance. For his entire hour-long set he was working himself to exhaustion while still managing to deliver every powerful verse with voice-coached clarity. The crowd was getting so into the show that by then end, we were all as out of breath as he was.
After the show, my friend Norris and I managed to catch him back stage and share a couple words, and we were both relieved to find him actually very humble and friendly in person. He described to us how “the rapping” is truly an art for him, an emotional and therapeutic release that he simply needs to do to deal with the stress of being an actor/writer/stand-up comedian/hip hop artist. It’s that authenticity and personal desperation for his own work that makes his music undeniably relatable to anyone who listens, and I personally plan to catch every performance of his I can in the future.
By Erik Fox/originally appeared at dopeonplastic.org
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