Childish Gambino

I don’t really have much to say about it. Great video, song is pretty pointless on its own and I can’t imagine ever listening to it without the video. Also - I think that people are pretty much on board with everything he’s saying which kind of kills the discussion. Unlike, say, the Killer Mike NRA thing which had everyone here talking.

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As Glover intended, the real question lying deep in the background of his video has eventually been found – Whether or not the DiS music board is still relevant in 2018.

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:joy::joy:

“How can i make this song about me”

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Really surprised that some of you guys don’t consider this very popular artist authentic.

Used to make music that leant exclusively (and tediously) on the aesthetic of Kanye, made a funk record with a couple of really great tracks on it, and now returns to rap leaning very close to the aesthetic of Kendrick Lamar… but apparently without any of the depth in the writing

THAT SAID the video – and the song as a vehicle for the video – are very clever and worthy of praise and discussion. While the music itself isn’t doing anything for me at the moment, if the song really is deceptively and intentionally simple and derivative as a vehicle for the message in the video, and and the rest of the album is full of… I don’t know… dextrous social commentary, or original music drawing inspiration from a variety of sources then I’ll happily embrace Glover’s arrival as a rap artist.

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If everyone’s social media feeds are anything like mine they would have been inundated with links to think pieces that “unpack” the video in detail. I don’t need anymore discussion on what the song and video means, I just want to enjoy it.

The album he’s gonna be pushing off the back of this surely won’t live up to the hype though right? He seems quite non fussed though from what I’ve seen and read about his music, music strikes me as something he enjoys but he has more of an interest in his tv show and acting which is fair enough.

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I find there’s a weird amount of snobbery around rap music.

I like his songs.

I think there’s always a slight level of distrust whenever an actor (or anyone who’s already established in another field) tries their hand at music but I think it’s unfounded here, I’m not a massive fan of his earlier records but from what I recall apart from maybe his role in Community and some other bits of comedy his music took off well before anything else he did.

He was writing for 30 rock 11 years ago

Really? I think it’s pretty much the same as other genres. Maybe because it’s so poorly represented here, outside of two or three threads. So when a song gets a dedicated thread it frustrates us because we hip each other to some really interesting stuff, but it feels like it’s been trumped by something that we find pretty vanilla. I really don’t think it’s us trying to be contrary.

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Definitely more obsessed with ‘authenticity’ though.

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I think it’s great. I’m pretty sure I don’t really understand it. Can’t think of anything else to say about it at the moment.

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I wasn’t being derogatory or accusatory, I was just questioning in an genuinely interested way;

See, when I listen to rap music it’s usually really heavy industrial-tinged stuff like Dalek, Techno-Animal, blah and a bit of Young Fathers and that.
I bought To Pimp A Butterfly but didn’t rate it as it was too jazzy for me, soz.
I think the song is bloody ace but I totally get the “wouldn’t work without the video” and authenticity and “everyone else is doing it to death so why should we” arguments.

So, what else can I listen to that is like it, only loads better??

I don’t understand the use of we and us in this thread. Suggests some sort of closed club. I take a look in some of the rap or hip-hop threads on here and run a mile. They feel a lot less inclusive than other genre-specific threads on here to me.

If anything they seem the most inclusive to me, so many discussions of old classics that people may not know, trying to get new fans involved.

Every genre has its gatekeepers, rap is no worse than any other. I think “indie” has been just as bad with regards to caring about “authenticity” - major labels, switching from lofi to good production, songs in adverts etc

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That’s a shame. “WE’VE” started a new thread discussing classic albums that might be worth a look. What genre threads are more inclusive, though? The ambient/drone one is pretty good I must say.

Not sure what effect popularity is meant to have in this debate. Plenty of people wouldn’t consider Katy Perry authentic even though she’s a superstar. Not saying that’s a good or bad opinion, but he’s hardly the only successful artist to be judged in that way.

Didn’t mean to make two posts but phone is being shit.

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I think you might have missed the irony in the post you quote - I took it that it was being suggested that being popular was likely to make a certain type of fan (well represented on DIS) automatically think that an artist is inauthentic.

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Haha oh duh.

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hmm

:thinking:

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