Childish Gambino, Camp
For his first retail project, Childish Gambino offers up Camp, an album that proves its author is more than an actor who happens to rap on the side…
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It took a while, but people—listeners, media, peers—are finally realizing that Childish Gambino isn’t a joke or a shtick. Why Gambino, the rap moniker of actor/comedian/writer Donald Glover, has to fight this rep should be no surprise. Too frequently, anyone with some semblance of spotlight tries to spit (Justin Bieber, Vinny from Jersey Shore, Spencer Pratt and too many more), and the results are usually abysmal. Combine that with the fact that Gambino’s rhymes are actually often funny, and he’s immediately fighting presumptions. As he began to do with past free releases like Culdesac and EP, Childish Gambino convincingly makes the case for respect as a rapper on his first retail offering, Camp.
Over electro leaning beats, Gambino stunts lyrical ingenuity, as he deftly tackles issues of race, class and family. His approach is layered: the 28-year-old boasts of current philandering and self-assuredness, then he balances that cocksureness with confessions of insecurities. It comes off as part overcompensation, part truth. And it’s Gambino’s acceptance, digestion and presentation of his own truth, paired with unapologetic lyricism, that has won over many fans.
The strongest display of Gambino as a lyricist comes on the album’s lead single, “Bonfire.” It’s his “I can really rap” moment, where the NYU graduate is intent on stringing together as many witty, imaginative lines as possible, kicking bars like, “I love pussy, I love bitches, dude, I should be runnin’ PETA,” and later “This rap is child’s play, I do my name like Princess Di.”
When it comes time for content and concepts, which mark the album, Gambino maintains an ability to relay the aspects of his situation that define him as an individual. On “Hold You Down,” he touches on growing up with a foster family, getting picked on at school, and not being “Black enough”—a theme that persists and continues to trouble Donald Glover. “This one kid said somethin’ that was really bad/He said I wasn’t really Black because I had a dad/I think that’s kinda sad/Mostly cause a lot of Black kids think they should agree with that,” he spits in the song’s second verse. “Outside,” again, deals with race, as well as his relationship with family, particularly his cousin.
On the album’s closer, “That Power,” one of a number of tracks where the all-around talent shows his singing abilities, too, he continues, indicting ignorance, no matter whose mouth it comes from: “Every Black ‘You’re not Black enough’ is a White ‘You’re all the same.’”
The narrative at times grows frustratingly predictable, though, akin to the zero-to-hero, standing-in-line-to-bottle-service stories that many rappers use as a crutch. This is typified in the final couplets of “Fire Fly,” where Gambino raps, “Girls used to tell me I ain’t cool enough/Now text me pics sayin’, ‘You could tear this up’/I don’t really like shades, big rims, or jewelry/But gettin’ time of day from a model is new to me/Bein’ me isn’t as hard as it used to be/Now everyone sing the chorus man, you do it so beautifully.”
Still, taken on the whole, Camp is full of top-tier lyricism, honesty, uncertainty and triumph. Childish Gambino is on his way to becoming a real hip-hop force, heading in a direction all his own. —Adam Fleischer
this album was much better than i thought it would be
this actually deserves the xl rating
I’m a Community fan, but come on! As a rapper, Glover is all over the place. This album is messy, disoriented, and just feels awkward way too often. There are some great things here, both in terms of Glover’s rapping and some cool production techniques scattered all over the place. The last track is pretty cool, I like the storytelling that kinda ties the album together. While he has a flow that works towards his goofy personality, often times Glover seems to be doing a cheap imitation of Drake or Wayne. Or both. The album is definitely on the pop side, and isn’t likely to appeal to hip hop heads. Many beats are too vanilla for my interest, and this together with some uninteresting/questionable lyrical delivery makes this album a lot worse that it could have been.
I’ve only heard one song from some video he has out, but as I was watching it, all I could think of was him being some Drake/J.Cole/Wiz Khalifa fusion.
If it was freaks and geeks that video is actually a bit of a mock of Drake
Haha wow, that actually was the video I was talking about
He’s doing a cheap impersonation of drake? I disagree….Childish’s album so much more hip hop than Drake’s album just in the fact that he comes so much harder lyrically than Drake. You can count all of Drake’s clever lines on both hands for Take Care when he actually does rap, Childish leaves you marveling at every song. On Take Care Drake becomes even more of an R & B artist and less of an MC to me. And on top of that Drake can’t even sing live! This album is a product of some singing talent and mostly great engineering. While childish can spit and sing every last joint from CAMP and Culdesac live in a full band setting, and actually have it sound good (Don’t even get me started on Drake’s live performing). I did like Take Care but it just wasn’t a hip hop album let alone a lyrical one. This however was an amazing album. Get this dude Gambino on the freshman list and the next BET cypher, do us all a favor.
Here’s what I’m thinking. All those guys who posted above were born after 2000. It’s not their fault they don’t know good hip hop. It’s just their entire generation.
If this isn’t good hip hop, what do you say is?
CWSS, Section 80, Watch the Throne. Take care was better than this because even though drake has been fucking up so big lately, he has (or had) credibility as an artist. Childish Gambino thinks he can rap. But all he is doing is trying too hard.
What? CG isn’t like anybody in the game. Just because he is good at acting and stand-up doesn’t mean that he cant’ be great or make an amazing album. Stop trying to limit him and put him in a box. He might sound like Wayne, but that’s because he’s from the south. And he is way better than Drake and he isn’t trying to be like Drake in anyway. If he was, he would be making radio songs. Camp is the best hip-hop album this year behind Section.80 and he even destroyed Kendrick in a freestyle cypher at SXSW. You aren’t hip-hop at all. You’re just a speculative pre-critical douche who can’t appreciate something different.
I’d give it a M. This guy can do a LOT better.
Are you kidding? You must be a troll.
XXL is starting to lose its value. they’ll give ANYONE an xl rating. Take it back to the old days and quit having fans of the artist or people who have known the artist do the reviews. Have an unbiased person write it and you’ll earn your credibility back.
Deserves a XXL, but I’m glad you recognized true talent for once and gave it at least an XL.
Have you guys even listened to the album?? this was a awesome freshman album…and its original content…for a geek/nerd to deliver the way he did is outstanding…some of you wont like it cause he isnt talking about hoe’s, cars, money, bitches and weed i guess…
For a debut album this was outstanding, and to people saying that it was awkward and crap, that’s how Gambino is as a person. He states he wants to be himself on the tracks and it works perfectly. He tries to be different, unlike the mainstream crap that sounds exactly the same.
this dude is super dope and original… you can tell hes cool with telling you everything and not holding back… the beats are dope… the lyrics are deep and the whole album just crank so hard… you cant place him in a box … thats the best thing about dude
Cosign
I agree with the rating for the most part. This album was good, but not as good as it should’ve been. I’d say Culdesac is slightly better than this one.
Oh yeah, something bugged me about the album. Where was “Untouchable”?