REVIEW by Patrick Dillon

REVIEW

By: Patrick Dillon

“Artist” (air finger quotations implied): Childish Gambino AKA Donald Glover

Album: Because The Internet (2013)

I think my favorite moments on Childish Gambino’s latest LP, the ambitious and largely experimental Because the Internet, are the short instrumental tracks and musical segways between tracks that attempt to create the album’s flow.  What these tracks lack in length they make up for in emotion and atmosphere.  Mostly though, they provide a focus that the rest of the album seems to bypass in favor of overindulgent experimentation, and an overwhelmingly boring second half. Gambino was so intent on creating some conceptual, multimedia, art house masterpiece, he forget to make a good album.

Of course, it didn’t start out like that.  With the release of singles like “3005” and “Sweatpants”, Gambino seemed to have dropped the poppy production and stale instrumentation of his last effort, (the awful 2011 LP Camp) in favor of trendy new sounds like trap flavored beats(Sweatpants), and ultrasweet hooks (3005).  The final single ,“Crawl”, seemed to confirm this theory, combining Gambinos new found trap influence with strong production, gorgeous instrumentation, and a solid hook. Even if Gambinos verses can come across more than a little corny, the overall musical progression from his last LP seemed promising.

And in terms of musical progression, this album easily surpasses its poppy predecessor.  I have very few complaints in terms of the overall production and instrumentation of this album.  Gambino provides trappy pop fare (“Crawl”, “Sweatpants”, “Worldstar”) synth laden instrumentals (3005) and syrupy neo-soul slow jams ala Frank Ocean (Miguel even provides guest vocals on the track “No Exit”).  The Beats fit the instrumentation nicely and the result is similar to some of his contemporaries, but oddly unique in its execution and personality.  If i have any complaints of this aspect of the LP, its that Gambino may have gotten a little too carried away.  In a rush to pack so many sounds into his album, the latter half became overproduced and dull until the tracks all start to blend together and you're left periodically glancing at your watch.  Still, The basis of the tracks themselves are solid, and renews my faith in Gambino’s potential.

Unfortunately, most of the albums pitfalls are due to Gambino himself, as well as the concept the album relies so heavily on. The album comes with a 72 page screenplay, essential in the understanding of the albums themes, plot, and character.  As a character portrait of the pretentiously titled: “The Boy” (no, really, that's his name), it functions, but as a story, it falls very flat.  Bad pacing, a lack of any real character development, and an extremely unlikeable character hamper would could have been a unique and interesting concept. Instead Glover delivers 72 uncompromisingly boring pages, with no real resolution, or message.  When synced with the album I can see what Glover was going for, and the narrative even improves some tracks by adding the much needed context (“Playing Around Before the Party Start”, “Death by Numbers”, “Shadows”).  For the first half or so of the album, the songs make up for and compliment (even improve) the screenplay, displaying the character’s inner monologue well and providing a nice contrast with his quiet, outward demeanor in the screenplay. However toward the second half, as the plot starts to actually pick up, the music instead begins to fall apart.  

Flight of the Navigators and Zealots of Stockholm are two tracks in particular that i think best represent the underwhelming second half.  Gambino trades his lightning fast quips for honest to goodness R&B vocals and the results are spotty.  Gambino sounds decent but in a genre that showcases vocal talent, he ends up sounding generic and dull.  Which is a problem as its Gambinos clever and introspective personality that makes his poppier tracks more interesting and, well...memorable.  On top of that the songwriting is poor, and the hooks on these tracks are just awful. (Not they weren't bad on the first have either, ex: Shadows, Telegraph Ave.) The closer, Life (The Biggest Troll) fares better as it sums up the album well and acknowledges some of Gambinos prior efforts.

As a rapper Gambino is technically sound, his lyrics are witty (“Girl why you be lyin, why you mufasa,” is probably my favorite), his flow is solid (and reminiscent of Kanye & Lil Wayne the way he spews punchlines), and his speed and control are admirable as well.  But being good at rapping doesn't ultimately make you a good rap artist, you need to be honest and you need to have something real to say.  Gambino lacks both and ultimately that's why his album falters.  Donald Glover probably thinks he’s being a lot more clever and artful than he actually is on this release, but regardless of what he may think his album suffers from lazy hooks, lack of focus or message, undeveloped songwriting, and boring slow jams.

Still, I think Gambino really finds his sound on this album and tracks like “Sweatpants” and “Crawl” showcase this transformation best as Gambino drops punchlines over a beats equally trap and jazz inspired, additionally “Worldstar” and “No Exit” prove he can occasionally add complexity to his music.  This combination of Great production and instrumentation, as well as smart, funny, and cocky wordplay almost make him “Alternative” Rap’s answer to Lil Wayne.  Almost.

Favorite Tracks: Crawl, Sweatpants, Worldstar, 3005, No Exit

Least Favorite Track: Zealots of Stockholm

Score:

4.5 / 10