This is the age of the multi-hyphenate artist and no one exemplifies that
philosophy better than rapper, writer, producer, actor, sketch comic and stand up
Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino.
A moniker that was given by WU-TANG clan name generator
during his time at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
There, he made his name in improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade, along with gaining early YouTube notoriety
as a member of the sketch troupe, Derrick Comedy before launching his career in television
as a staff writer for both 30 Rock and The Daily Show.
And then eventually being cast in a lead role in NBC's Community.
Not bad for a former Jehovah's Witness who grew up prohibited from watching television,
but that restrictive upbringing is what really brought out his creative ambition,
and I think that's what allowed him to hop from project to project so effortlessly
like leaving Community in its fifth season to pursue a career in music,
a move that was met with deeply enthusiastic fans, but also incredibly harsh critics.
Childish Gambino becoming one of the most polarizing names in hip-hop.
The infamous 1.6 Pitchfork review for his debut studio album,
calling it one of the most unlikable rap records of the year,
as well as Time magazine claiming Gambino just isn't cool enough for hip-hop.
And why exactly can't you rap about friends?
Joey: "I dunno"
Childish Gambino gets people mad.
How can this comedian think he's in the running for hip-hop's top 5?
He's not a real rapper, right?
Gambino: "I don't consider myself a rapper. I don't think I'm a rapper."
"I can rap, but I don't think I'm a rapper, I wanna do a bunch of stuff."
But Donald Glover represents a new archetype of entertainer.
One that isn't bound by classification, someone who can easily balance the
self-deprecating nature of being a comedian
with the boastful ego ego-driven persona of a rapper.
He's a multi-faceted artist that can use all mediums for self-expression.
Gambino: You're just hurting yourself when you're like "I'm a this", "I'm a that".
And he's by no means the first to do so.
There are hundreds of artists with their hands and multiple careers,
but typically they're very distinct contained works.
Drake the actor.
Drake the rapper.
Tom Ford the director.
Tom Ford the fashion designer.
But what I find so appealing about Gambino and his work
is his ability to thread all those elements together,
shaping a bigger picture using those various artistic tools...
... and you can see that in the album "Because the Internet,"
a project that took full advantage of all of Glover's talents:
The two short films and the accompanying 72 page screenplay,
the visual show during the live performance,
Donald even started dressing like the story's main character
during press junkets and talk shows, further blurring the lines between art and artist.
He's building a world, an immersive experience with the music just being the soundtrack to that world.
Troy, The Boy, Earn, Gambino, they're all the same character in a way.
Gambino: "The person onstage when I do stand-up is the exact same person who is doing rap."
"Like, it'd be different if I was doing jokes about 'Oh, here's Justin Bieber blah blah blah'
and then I'm like 'All right, now to talk about killing babies and smoking weed!'"
"Like it''s way... they're the same dude."
It's a narrative that tells the story of Donald Glover, not necessarily in the biographical sense...
...but in a way that allows them to translate his perspective, viewing the experiences
that shaped him through a fictionalized lens.
That can be achieved to its fullest potential when it's limited to one media
and that's what Atlanta is about, filling in the gaps left by the comedy and the albums and scripts
but everything's interconnected.
And that's what makes it feel whole. It's all there. Its structure. It's real.
Gambino: "You gotta build a bigger world. I'm not gonna make an album."
"I'm gonna to make like... an album. I'm gonna make the world dope."
"I'm gonna make the movie with it dope."
"I'm going to make everything dope."
"I'm going to make a world because the thing is like... album (snaps fingers) it doesn't mean anything."
"Music doesn't mean. It means as much as you put into it and you don't have time to put anything into it."
"So like... I don't see the point of making albums."
And you cannot like his stand-up, his music, his acting but you have to admire his output, his ambition, ...
He's in my mind what every artist should strive to be:
Unsatisfied
Childish Gambino represents authenticity and subversion, disrupting the established.
That's hip-hop personified and right now, he's one of the most important figures
in that field.
And this new crop of artists that have followed him in his wake,
I'm excited for the future of hip-hop.
Not just the music but the culture.
I wanna see experimentation, vulnerability...
I wanna see rap do what it was designed to do:
Keep it real!