Childish Gambino

it's really a sad statement on how much smaller a piece of the entertainment pie music is than TV that someone can get an album almost into the top 10 on Billboard by being a supporting player on a sitcom with ratings so bad it's on the edge of cancellation on the last place network

cunga in with a bullet w/ that one

i do think you guys are underestimating how many ppl are checking for gambino the rapper -- i mean certainly his profile as an actor is why he even has a profile as a rapper in the first place, but it's very trendy, well-timed rap music. i think there are ppl out there smanging the replay button on gambino who don't really watch community.

i can take Whiney doing a full-on "i've never watched this but i'm going to talk about how terrible it is on 12 threads" Morbz routine with Community, i can take Forks taking time off from watching AutoTune The News to diss community, but Strongo man you're breaking my heart.

basically, 100% of the people who bought his album (listened to it on npr, really) posted on this thread did so because of community, and 90% of those people think it's the best a rap album of the decade because they understand all the words and they subconsciously convince themselves it hilarious exists, because if they don't that's like betraying troy. this thread only exists because of brand loyalty.

how'd i do?

i think the question here is what is this guy bringing to the table? good lyricism? no, and btw, he's a comedian, so his jokes shouldn't be shit. is he bringing anything from a production or songwriting standpoint? no, obviously. is he bringing a new point of view? he wants you to believe that he is, but i think the pitchfork review outlines really well why, no, not even that is novel anymore, without begrudging black males that may identify with him.

― v-shasty, Friday, December 2, 2011 9:37 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

and as far as holding his lyrics to a higher standard in terms of quoting them and stuff in reviews. his music trades totally on two things: his point of view and his punchlines. that's it. he's a joke writer at heart, not a musician. if you don't fuck with childish gambino's lyricism, then what is left? i could say that his punchlines hit at the same rate as 2 chainz or drake or lil wayne, but even if you don't dig those three guys lyrically, you can still often enjoy their music for other reasons, be it their collaborators or on a pure pop music level, or whatever.

― v-shasty, Friday, December 2, 2011 9:39 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink

I think the second paragraph is all fair

but I just think a lot of these reviews are actually worse than the music I mean: ""No live shows because I can't find sponsors/ For the only black guy at a Sufjan concert." Bullshit. OK, look: I realize that there's a chance some kid will hear that line and feel validated, and you know, the last thing we need is an armchair cracker like myself relating contrary anecdotal evidence about the demographics at Sufjan Stevens' last concert." - I would rather listen to childish gambino that read more sentences like this.

also community isn't very funny, just to add to the challops

and to talk about Glover but not his music:

He reminds me of Robin Williams. With the right setting and dosage he's great but you need to rein him in to keep him from being a total ham. xpost

idk what to tell you iatee -- that's a cogent point about gambino's entire persona as an artist.

a cogent point about the author's entire persona as an armchair cracker maybe

i agree that DG is good reined in because he seems to work best as part of an ensemble and just kind of throwing his energy in there in small doses, but i don't see how that applies to Robin Williams, who has never been anything but the universe-devouring center of attention in every single moment of his career.

conversation overheard between two people setting up a campus event i was catering, one a grad student sweatervesty bearded dudebro, the other a professionally dressed lady in her 50s or 60s:

dude: *something about how npr isn't working on his iphone*
lady: *says nothing*
dude: Do you watch Community?
lady: No.
dude: Well the character Troy, the actor who plays him is a rapper and he just released an album on NPR, and it's like... amazing.
lady: Oh.

i don't know why i remember this so vividly, it just seemed like a perfect moment

a cogent point about the author's entire persona as an armchair cracker maybe

― Mordy, Friday, December 2, 2011 10:45 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

i don't know, i think it's worth pointing out that gambino's I LIKE INDIE MUSIC AND I RAP, I'M AN OUTSIDER shtick falls just a biiiit flat when one of the three biggest rappers in the world is out here sampling jamie xx, jai paul and sbtrkt

and one of the other biggest rappers in the world put bon iver all of his album

over*

yeah, it's kanye's shtick too!

xp i hate to think that DG is a negative variable, but yeah his best work was on 30 rock, community, derrick comedy, never the solo stuff. he seems like someone who needs to mature quite a bit before he tries standup again.

haha that's great, the kind of person who goes "oh ok so that show you've never seen THE GUY WHO PLAYS TROY IS..."

tbh, there's no possible donald glover being bad enough that would excuse a phrase like armchair cracker xxxp

otm

i have a standup snob thing, which i've meant to get into on the rolling comedy thread at some point, but my pet theory is that any comedic actor who kind of starts doing standup after they've had some success or fame just performing in or writing scripted comedy is not a true standup and their shit is usually wack in that environment even if they're generally funny and talented

like that old 'young comedians showcase' HBO special where John Candy hosts and does a few minutes of material before introducing the comics, i'm just like no dude, i love you but no, this is not you

"armchair cracker" is just a much funnier and snappier way of saying "i'm white btw"

I'm not sure if it's that having fame before standup means you're going to be bad at standup. I think it's more that standup is really its own discipline to such an extent that you need to practice and work really hard at it to get a level of comfort and to be successful on the stage. More likely that if you're already famous, you're not necessarily willing to put in that work -- or you'll sub in the stuff you're already comfortable with without developing the new skills. xp

i thought golvbino got 'discovered' at NYU doing stand up, or was it improv?

xpost Robin Williams has had moments where he's not "on" and being a scene stealer. And that's usually when he's in an ensemble as well.

Neither DG nor williams have have much restraint, they're always going for the home run comedy moment when sometimes it would've served them better to lay off the shtick. There's also the lapses into bad taste they both share.

Anyway, Derrick Comedy is DG's equivalent of Robin's early stand-up career, Community is his Mork and Mindy, and the next fifteen years of him dominating either movies or tv is going to be like Robin's run in the late 80s and 90s.

LOL @ the idea of donald glover "dominating either movies or TV"

adam brody is inescapable these days

"armchair cracker" is just a much funnier and snappier way of saying "i'm white btw"

I think the words "ian cohen" made "armchair cracker" or "i'm white btw" an unnecessary part of the pfork review

http://www.southernsavers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Cracker-Barrel-Logo.jpg

how does henry rollins fit into all of this

ftr i do wish donald glover had gotten the spiderman role

Henry Rollins confronts Donald Glover about the use of the word Blipster in a NYC record shop xpost

album would've had a lot more semen jokes

xp

I'm not sure if it's that having fame before standup means you're going to be bad at standup. I think it's more that standup is really its own discipline to such an extent that you need to practice and work really hard at it to get a level of comfort and to be successful on the stage. More likely that if you're already famous, you're not necessarily willing to put in that work -- or you'll sub in the stuff you're already comfortable with without developing the new skills. xp

― Mordy, Friday, December 2, 2011 11:53 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

that's exactly what i meant fwiw, i just didn't want to type all that out

oh, yeah, otm then

plus it's also the refuge of guys who become comedy stars in TV or movies and then stop getting a lot of roles and realize they can make good money filling a comedy club any night of the week even if they're really not built for that line of work, which is how we get something like the Michael Richards debacle

LOL @ the idea of donald glover "dominating either movies or TV"

The second Community gets canceled he'd be offered his own show by FX and Comedy Central, probably network tv, and would get a first right of refusal for every single role that Aziz Ansari would get offered.

how many references to sister, sister does it to get to the center of donald glover

The second Community gets canceled he'd be offered his own show by FX and Comedy Central, probably network tv, and would get a first right of refusal for every single role that Aziz Ansari would get offered.

― Cunga, Friday, December 2, 2011 11:01 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i just

by proxy you're comparing the careers of robin williams and aziz ansari, which....

I get a little off-track, bear with me...

rereading this p4k article & wondering if maybe childish gambino doesn't lack self awareness per se but just isn't up to the minute on rap trends? i get the feeling that we're in a whineyesque bubble here, what was for the past two years a trickle of stereogum updates (Beyonce Ass Moved by Grizzly Bear Concert) has only really become a tide circa somewhere between mbdtf & take care. not sure how perceptible the trends ian cohen &c (myself incl) are distinctly aware of are on a macro/college campus level

i don't think that donald glover's awareness or unawareness of the growing intersection between rap and indie music has much to do w/ whether or not he succeeds in creating an outsider persona, unless you want to give him pity points for ignorance

i think the outsider persona is more palpable to other audiences, incl ones that share that ignorance. not that that isn't an audience who also share the horrible taste & sense of humour. but in the same way most people hearing Foster the People are unaware of indie dance pop trends of the past three years, probably fewer are aware that it's indie rock artist bon iver mumbling crap eight minutes into a kanye single, or know who lil b is aside from a guy who makes funny jokes about bitches wanting to have sex with him for improbable reasons. and i think the childish gambino persona is considerably more novel if you're not clued into these micro-narratives. not that you're not an asshole if you like this music--but it frames an argument about his Self Awareness around audience groups & the reviewer's nerd knowledge rather than the music itself

but Strongo man you're breaking my heart

lol sorry man. god knows i've put in my time trying to like it. and it's not as if you don't know i watch hella tv so this isn't some Hipster Shits on Something He's Never Seen from His Olympian Williamsburg HQ or some shit.

there's something about the rhythm of it that's off to me. i get the same vibe from parks and rec and happy endings and a lot of other current shows. the 30 rock rhythm on +8 or something.

relatedly/unrelatedly i fell really hard for the drake album while ilx was down

community has a fabulous rythm & density of jokes imo but i hate 30 rock and parks & rec

what, we don't like auto-tune the news around here