Childish Gambino Kauai Album Series Of Revealing

Childish Gambino Kauai Album Series Of Revealing

Having eschewed all else in the past twelve months to focus solely on his Childish Gambino project, chances are that youll have come across his hip-pop moniker at some point: a derisory Pitchfork review here, an Instagrammed series of revealing handwritten notes there, a compelling Pound Cake freestyle everywhere.

Active since 2008, prior to this month hed released six mixtapes, two studio albums, and one EP a smorgasbord of productivity thats demonstrated incremental progress with the passing of each work.

The last two 2012 mixtape R O Y A L T Y (which boasted guest spots from RZA, Chance The Rapper, and Beck) and last years album because the internet saw Glover moving away from an ultra-defensive, hashtag-rap agenda to indulge in heavily-meta braggadocio and convoluted takes on the salient might of the World Wide Web.

Indeed, because the internet was presented as a part of an even bigger project that would also incorporate an as-yet-unreleased film (its interactive script-of-sorts can be read here ) about a wealthy, sketched-out teen (The Boy) whose existence is almost entirely played out on various social networking mediums.

You cant fault Glovers vision and ambition, but such output still felt more like pieces of a puzzle rather than the finishing brushstrokes of a masterpiece.

Although a joint release, lets split up this Yin and Yang creation.

But the rawness required to succeed in this instance is generally there on this eleven-track mixtape: many of the samples, true to mixtape custom, are unlicensed, whilst Glover generally exhibits a playful recklessness in his raps; any lapses in braggadocio are made up for by the presence of loudmouth hypeman DJ Drama.

Im the man of the hour God damn, Im just being who I am From that weird-ass little kid to this ballin ass grown man, he boasts on Partna Dem; though perhaps not all that convincingly.

Theres AssShots Remix, which is a tad self-indulgent as he allows the R O Y A L T Y crew (which counts Glovers younger brother Steve G.

The quickly-spoken monologue in the closing third of the track presents Glovers filmic, storytelling ability; a further string to his bow that also segues nicely into discussing the waaaay more laid-back complexion of Kauai.

Produced with regular collaborator Ludwig Gransson, its all jump ropes and sunny afternoons in the park until some white noise-esque bass throws a spanner into the melodic works to break the daze.

Theres a Beach Picnic Version of last years superhit 3005, which is lovely and all, but it mostly sounds like the original being put in the wash.

The Palisades, meanwhile, comes on all Neptune-y with its skippy beat and reverbed guitars as Glover channels his inner Pharrell, asking If we could be together would that make you happy One thing that Kauai establishes is that Glover, in possession of a fine vocal range, will never need to hire a chorus guy to fill in the singing gaps.

Delivering a half-rapped monologue on Late Night in Kauai that was most likely written for him (an observation that Glovers compadre Fam makes a nod to later in the track), the half-awake, empty posturing of The French Princes over-privileged son is a testing presence.

But that notion isnt lost on Glover as declared on Kauai s cover art, Smith has been cast as the aforementioned The Boy, which, if you read the because the internet script, is a rather shrewd casting choice.

But then you hear Smith deliver the high school poet couplet Maybe we can make things right Maybe we can do it without any spite and you get annoyed all over again.

But its Glovers heightened self-awareness and defensive mechanisms that are both his making and breaking in this game.

STN MTN may be his decadent love letter to Atlantas hip-hop legacy, but much of his fanbase will be more attracted to the sweetly-constructed melodies of Kauai.

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Childish Gambino Kauai Album Download