At first there was Community, and I didn’t watch that so I only knew of him.
The there was Because The Internet as Childish Gambino and I thought it was a bit shit and made me wonder if he was a Jared Leto ego-cult type. It felt very insincere.
Then there was Awaken, My Love! and I enjoyed that one a lot and was surprised with how it sounded.
Then there was Atlanta which I was cautious of at first but quickly became one of my favourite TV shows.
Then there was This Is America which was everywhere for a minute.
Then there was Swarm, which was OK, but a bit style over substance.
Today there’s Atavista, a new surprise album drop, supposedly the finished version of 3.15.20
Don’t know if it’s out yet but he’s in a TV series version of Mr & Mrs Smith (remake of the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie) Sounded a bit pointless to me but has been getting rave reviews.
Wrote for and cropped up on 30 Rock as well and I think Tina Fey ended up being a bit of a mentor.
Enjoyed the album but doubt I’ll play it all through often. Lithonia and Yoshinoya though are really great tracks - definitely in the running for my top 10 tracks of the year
Listening to Bando now and it’s a lot better and more varied that I thought it would be. Will definitely get a couple more listens.
Always loved Donald. Community is one of my favourite shows of all time and got big into his rap stuff around the time his EP came out in 2011 and Camp after that. Fell off after that and never really got into Because The Internet or R O Y A L T Y.
Awaken My Love didn’t click at first either because I just wanted him to rap, but after This is America blew up, I revisited it and oh boy, it’s fucking great. Essentially just a 70 psych soul/funk record, but done really well and captured the warm sound you only got in 60’s/70’s soul and funk records perfectly.
Atavista or whatever it was initially called was ok, but in all honesty I don’t remember any of it, so maybe it’s not? Need to revisit.
Still only seen the first season of Atlanta. Need to get back to it.
