Three and a half years ago, before Because the Internet, before Nothing was the Same, and mere months before Camp and Take Care (both dropped on Nov. 15, 2011,) Childish Gambino, or Donald Glover, was asked about the waning importance of street-cred in Hip Hop. “Here’s the thing, streed-cred is code for ‘real’. That’s all it is. When people say street-cred, what they really mean is ‘you’re not lying,’” Gambino said in an interview on Q with Jian Ghomeshi. “Like, Drake raps about real stuff and people feel like they know him,” Gambino continued.
Camp was released shortly after, along with a 1.6 review from Pitchfork. The review attacked Glover’s credibility as an emcee, criticizing how someone who first found fame through Youtube comedy sketches and NBC sitcoms could use something as perceivingly incredulous as his struggles with racial identity to craft a “false outsider persona.” According to the reviewer, the narrative of the life of Donald Glover was one that was unnecessary in Hip Hop at this point in time. Afterall, the reviewer claims, how do you explain Drake?
Camp Confused Us Because Why Wasn’t It Campy?
For his follow up to Camp, Gambino took a new approach. After posting a set of sullen — yet honest — notes to Instagram, and locking himself in a mansion with core crew members including close friend Fam and producer Ludwig, the artist recorded the Grammy-nominated existential Rap project, Because the Internet. With impromptu public listening sessions, and a 72 page screenplay that came along with it, the release broke the traditional mold for the Rap album by creating an immersive experience that transcended the music. Whereas an album like Good Kid, m.A.A.d City used the music to communicate a narrative that was cinematic in scope, Because the Internet also used the Internet to show the complexity behind the fact that our closest connections with people are through fiber optics and Facebook posts. And what’s more campy, more cormy, more kitsch than faux interactions replacing intimate, personal ones?
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Meanwhile, Drake has shattered records set by The Beatles, hosted the Espy’s, and taken Kanye’s spot as “the most popular man in rap.” Nowadays, Gambino has something else to say about Drake. “I knew when I was doing Childish Gambino from the beginning, like, ‘They’re not gonna let me do this,’” Gambino said in an interview with Peter Rosenberg. “‘They already have a rapper, singer, actor guy who’s black.’ That’s really what it was. ‘If he was white, it would be different.’ They’d be like, ‘They’re not the same.’” Those facts seem to be the only common denominator between the two audiences, but aside from that, nothing is the same about their careers or how audiences receive them.
Authenticity Is a Hell Of A Drug
In this Grantland piece published shortly after the release of Take Care and Camp, Rembert Browne prophecizes that Camp, while as exceedingly honest as Take Care, was a risky album, and perhaps the last release we could see from Gambino because of the way he bared all his insecurities as a confused black kid growing up in America. Unlike Drake, Browne writes, Gambino used his platform to “spread a non-mainstream, unpopular message to as diverse an audience as possible.” And in retrospect, he has.
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In an appearance late in 2014 on Hot 97, Gambino brought to light his influence on a generation of affluent black kids that didn’t exist decades ago. This includes Malia Obama, Seven Benjamin, and Jaden Smith, the embodiment of the privileged, disillusioned character in Because the Internet. There’s a juxtaposition between how each of these kids view themselves and how the world views them, one that can be navigated through Gambino’s music. From selfies in Pro-Era shirts to appearances on mixtapes, these kids are all participating in Hip Hop as culture, so it must grow to include them. Gambino laments that despite his love for “Fancy,” “What made hip hop cool was how real it was. Really, we’re cultural influences. That’s what black kids are…they really change the culture of not just America but the world.” The authenticity of the black kid that Gambino represents is why the Obama’s and Smith’s latch on to him, but his influence is prevalent in kids who don’t share that affluence, along with kids who aren’t even black.
As a student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Glover’s alma mater, there’s no doubt a number of students credit him for giving them the inspiration to cultivate their own creative ambitions. In addition, Kevin Abstract recently wrote about how Childish Gambino’s music made things easier for kids like him. That’s why when a Pitchfork writer dismisses Gambino’s credibility because Hip Hop has already seen the likes of Lil B, Kendrick Lamar, Odd Future, and Danny Brown, it comes across as muddled to a high school kid in suburban Los Angeles, who felt Camp spoke to him more personally and directly than any release from those other artists.
Therefore, authenticity is not the issue at hand. Mr. Glover doesn’t betray what’s true to his experience, rather, it’s listeners who have trouble accepting that experience. What Gambino raps about is real, and that’s why he’s captivated an audience of outsiders (“I don’t listen to rap, but I love Childish Gambino!”) and black nerds. But outside of his core fanbase, listeners are just too afraid to take off their cool for the Atlanta rapper. “Time” explicitly stated this in their review of Because the Internet. Sadly, Hip Hop fans are just as hesitant to admit that they watch Friends as they are to admit that they listened to a Childish Gambino record. But they still watch Friends. A majority of Gambino’s subject matter borders on, “This is all happening but nobody wants to talk about it,” and while this can lead to some good conversation, it still ends on the note that nobody wants to talk about it.
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Mixtapes As Dreams
Gambino’s recently released S T N M T N mixtape follows Glover as he dreams of running Atlanta. As the mixtape reaches its conclusion, and Glover gets closer to awakening from his fantasy, he rhymes, (“They want the old Bino, so they try to rewind, the new Bino’s too ahead of his time,”) on “Candler Road.” With his TV Show “Atlanta” slated to premiere this year on FX, maybe this dream isn’t too far from becoming a reality. The show will ideally give Glover the platform to establish himself outside of 140 characters and a mixtape. Perhaps then, a wider audience will be willing to admit that they watch Friends.
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Nevertheless, Glover’s profile has certainly heightened since the release of Because the Internet, culminating in a nomination for Best Rap Album. While Rap fans have likely given up on the Grammy’s as a true measure of an artist’s work, a Childish Gambino win for Best Rap Album over Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic could present a historical moment for the category. Older, out of touch Academy Voting Members may split their votes between The New Classic and “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”, making “Oxymoron” and Because the Internet the main contenders for the category. Following last years upset over Macklemore’s win, it would be triumphant to see the award go to an album as innovative in its execution, scope, and vision as Because the Internet is. Those were the words I wrote before it came to be that MMLP2 won the Best Rap Album Grammy. Whether he deserved it or not is of no matter. It was just a joy to see an album like Because The Internet nominated in the first place. And not winning a Grammy might be at this point a sign of having a great album — at least in Hip Hop —so there.
If it’s any sign of the times, Vince Staples called Because the Internet the best album of 2013 in an interview with HipHopDX. Staples also had some comments on authenticity. “Music is like the zoo, especially Rap music and black music in general,” Staples said. “Like, you got all these people sitting outside the glass and it’s cool to point at the lion and shit, but nobody gonna hop they ass in that motherfuckin’ box.” The essential issue with Childish Gambino and Donald Glover is that he invites everyone to hop in the box. And at the moment, it’s easier to say he’s not cool or he’s corny, than it is to say “I don’t want to have this conversation.” While Drake wears short shorts on SNL, Gambino wears them on stage. As the barrier between the glass of the TV and the audience converges, Hip Hop fans will have a greater chance to decide whether or not Gambino is “real” enough for them. Will Gambino’s TV Show, along with a possible Grammy win, give audiences the chance to view him as more than just a Drake replacement, and give him the platform to compete with him in album sales, primetime hosting gigs, and critical acclaim? We’ll give it time, and hopefully they’re both still around a decade from now. That’s real.
“Christopher Cole is a native of Rancho Cucamonga, CA (Yes, from Next Friday), and he studies Film and Television Production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is an aspiring screenwriter, Kanye West defender, Netflix binge watcher, and has written for Washington Square News. Follow him at@ChrisCole95.”
