CHILDISH GAMBINO BREAKS NEW GROUND
‘ Awaken, My Love!’ covers some heavy topics
Donald Glover has come a long way since his study- room days. Once a writer on NBC’s comedy 30
Rock, the 33- year- old be-came a breakout character on the network’s since- canceled cult sitcom Communi
ty, playing affable nerd Troy Barnes. After appearing in small roles in last year’s Magic Mike
XXL and The Martian, Glover emerged as a creative force in 2016: writing, producing and starring in FX’s critical darling Atlanta, and joining the upcoming young Han Solo movie as Star
Wars’ Lando Calrissian. Amid all of that, the versatile actor has released two hip- hop albums under the name Childish Gambino, starting with his witty 2011 breakout Camp and earning a Grammy nomination for his audacious, weightier follow- up Because the Internet.
Which brings us to his third studio album, Awaken, My Love! ( out of four), which at its best is groundbreaking, genre- defying music for the soul, and at its worst sounds like the teenage stoner down the block who just discovered his dad’s Jimi Hendrix collection. Here, Gambino abandons rapping in favor of washed- out guitars, tribal beats and distorted, often- unintelligible verses. Think a slightly more successful stab at psychedelic rock than Kid Cudi, who sharply pivoted away from hip hop on his 2013 experiment Indicud.
Spanning 11 songs and nearly 50 minutes, Awaken starts like a bad trip as Gambino literally screams about love on the aggressive rock opener Me and Your Mama before warning of the Boogieman and Zombies over a muddled mix of hand claps, shrieks and guitar licks. Whether he’s slyly commenting on the music industry, racism or class on the latter (“We’re eating you for profit/ there is no way to stop it”) is anybody’s guess. While much of the album feels like a reflection of the sort of rambling, stream- of- consciousness ideas Glover puts out in his interviews, the more soulful second half fares better. The symphonic, stripped- down Stand Tall is genuinely inspiring, despite its overuse of clichéd platitudes. The breezy California is a sparkling palate cleanser after the towering funk anthem Redbone, one of the year’s best songs. And coming from a new father, Baby Boy feels ach- ingly personal; Glover revealed to Bill
board that he became a dad this year. Unlike his introspective past albums, listening to this more ambitious effort on your computer or through headphones isn’t how Gambino sees fans interacting with it. The first time he unveiled the new music was at a threeday camping- and- concert event in Joshua Tree, Calif., in September, where it was accompanied by trippy visuals, colorful costumes and a strict no- smartphone policy. Glover clearly intended listening to
Awaken, My Love! as a cosmic experience, so it’s going to take more than a few listens to grasp it, for better or worse. Download: Have Some Love, Redbone, California