If you were not aware, today is the day of birth for one of my favorite artists, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino). I want to give a special shoutout to my friend, Keagan (Twitter: sacrikt Tumblr: wehavetoburnitdown) for getting me into him 4 years ago. I was blissfully ignorant to all things Childish Gambino until I was asked to see him in concert for his Camp Tour. I listened to his mixtape Cul-de-Sac before I heard “Bonfire” and jumped into Camp. I love Donald Glover because he’s apologetically him in everything he does. From tv to comedy to music, he does it all in Donald Glover style and fashion. Over the past 4 years I’ve listened to his music grow and evolve as he shapes himself as a person. Even though I miss his music dearly I’m glad to see him working in other endeavors and taking time away from the public eye to do him.
That Camp Tour was the first show I went to as an adult. I hadn’t been to a concert in years (since Bow Wow and Omarion) so it was exciting just to be in the concert atmosphere. I saw him at TWC Amphitheater in Charlotte (which I was informed has changed to something else) and he was phenomenal. He had some opening acts but Ab-Soul stuck out to me most. Even though the show was 3 years ago I still can remember how excited I was to see him from the lawn. That was the day I fell in love with him. Since then he’s released Because The Internet (album), STN MTN (mixtape), and Kauai (EP). Give them a listen. You won’t be disappointed. I plan to talk about at least 2 of them in the future.
This is a small amount of gratitude for Donald Glover. I hope he has an amazing 32nd birthday and continues to be awesome. Happy Birthday, DG from BINACT.
Didn’t know I was the one to get Candice into CG. I’m proud.
I remember the first time I ever heard ROYALTY (another mixtape, put out between Camp and because the internet) other than playing it for myself was when she was playing it on the way to the concert, and the next time I heard it was somewhere in Times Square - Candice and I went to NYC for our birthdays, though I was killing time by myself at this point - at 4 in the morning. CG was “Candice music” to me for a long time, up until she got me into KYLE, anyway.
The only thing I remembered from the Camp tour opening acts was Chance the Rapper leading the crowd in a singalong of “All Falls Down”. (This was before Acid Rap, so he didn’t have much else he could play and get the audience’s attention with.) It’s amazing how much they’ve both blown up since then. And then there was my sister getting invited onto Gambino’s tour bus, which I’m pretty sure she lists under “accomplishments” on her résumé.
If anyone’s actually reading this and wants to know which Childish Gambino songs to go listen to:
-American Royalty (feat. RZA and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, off ROYALTY)
-Retro (ROUGH) (off Kauai, a remake of “Love is Crazy” from Sick Boi)
-Sunrise (off Camp)
-Freaks and Geeks (off EP, the first song where people really took his rapping seriously)
-Got This Money (off Culdesac)
-II. Earth, the Oldest Computer (feat. Azealia Banks, off because the internet)
-IV. Sweatpants (feat. problem, bti again)
-Childish Gambino @ The Atrium (off STN MTN, not a song)
And see if you can find the hidden track from because the internet. It’s the last track of Kauai plus an added vocal track; if you can’t find it, I’ll send it to you.
Reblog because everyone needs to see this.