Childish Gambino – “Bando Stone & the New World” review

California actor, writer, rapper, comedian, singer, DJ, director, producer & former FX hit series Atlanta creator Donald Glover or Childish Gambino finally following up Atavista with his 5th & final full-length LP. In only 2 decades, he’s also put out a couple EPs & 7 mixtapes in addition to all his other albums. The 2 that stand out the most are the sophomore effort Because the Internet released on my 17th birthday & the 2016 follow-up “Awaken, My Love” pulling heavy influence from the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. 3.15.20 was randomly released during the beginning of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in an unfinished state only to be finalized & reissued as Atavista recently, which most people including myself decided they’d rather wait for Bando Stone & the New World.

“H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥” featuring Amaarae is a self-produced industrial hip hop opener dissing those who did him greasy & still being on whereas the lead single “Lithonia” works in elements of alternative rock, pop rock, post-grunge, art rock & glam rock telling the story of Cody LeRae. “Survive” featuring Chlöe is a beautiful hip hop/neo-soul crossover tryna save their lives since summer’s always coming leading into “Steps Beach” singing over a stripped back instrumental from Steve Lacy talking about wanting to walk the beach on a Saturday.

Amaarae & Flo Milli join Gambino to the trap joint “Talk My Shit” so all 3 of them can boast on the lyrical side of things just before “Got to Be” turns the industrial influences all the way back up talking about 2020 being his time. “Real Love” takes a electropop/dance-pop route to the beat hoping that everyone listening gets to feel genuine love at some point in their lives, but then “In the Night” featuring Amaarae & Jorja Smith fuses alternative R&B with alté as well as gqom & alt-pop singing about needing each other at night.

“Yoshinoya” concludes the first half of Bando Stone & the New World with a 2-parter showing a bit of a Ye or the Nazi formerly known as Kanye West influence sticking around similarly to the titular Japanese multinational fast food chain while “Can You Feel Me?” featuring Legend Glover is a heartwarming moment on the album where father & son singing together referencing the alphabet in every verse. The 8-minute rollercoaster ride “No Excuses” goes neo-soul singing about receiving cold love while “Cruisin’” featuring Yeat produced by DJ Dahi, Ludwig Göransson, Michael Uzowuru & Donald himself brings a synth-trap vibe to the table living their dreams since this dreamin’ ain’t enough.

Meanwhile on the atmospheric “We Are God”, we have Gambino singing about being inseparable flying through the dark while “Running Around” featuring Fousheé blends soul & rock going crazy during the weekend. The track “Dadvocate” goes for another stripped back approach tackling fatherhood & after the “Happy Survival” interlude, “A Place Where Love Goes” concludes the Childish Gambino chapter of Donald’s life with 1 more EDM joint going wherever love does.

In contrast to a lot of artists saying they’re gonna retire from music & later coming back, it really does feel like the end of Childish Gambino since it’s not fun for him anymore & what a way for him to go out. We get a concept album revolving around a singer named Bando Stone stumbling into a post-apocalyptic world before teaming up with a woman & her son to fight prehistoric creatures & try to escape from an unexplained phenomenon that seems to delete “chunks” of the world blending experimental hip hop, neo-soul, psychedelic soul, neo-psychedelia, rock music, electronic dance music, alternative R&B, alté, gqom & alt-pop.

Score: 4.5/5

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Childish Gambino – “Atavista” review

This is the surprise 4th full-length album from California actor, writer, rapper, comedian, singer, DJ, director, producer & former FX hit series Atlanta creator Childish Gambino a.k.a. Donald Glover. His 2011 debut album Camp was pretty mediocre, but he would show his artistic growth on his next 2 projects R O Y A L T Y & Because of the Internet. Last time we heard from Donald in a full-length capacity was in 2016 with “Awaken, My Love!”, which was an awesome throwback to the days of Parliament-Funkadelic. But after leaking Atavista as 3.15.20 on his website in its entirety just a week ago, he’s now officially putting it out on all streaming services.

After the “0.00” intro, the self-produced title track gives off a bit of a Weeknd vibe singing that the high is low if the drug is faint whereas “Algorythm” finds Donald talks about partying over an enticing instrumental. The track “Time” with Ariana Grande sees the 2 talking about how life is moving fast over a synth-heavy beat from Jai Paul, Donald himself, Ludwig Göransson, DJ Dahi just before the 6 & a half minute “Psilocybae (Millennial Love)” featuring 21 Savage inspired by The Neptunes instrumentally gets romantic.

“To Be Hunter” industrially talks about what it is to be beautiful leading into the shimmery “Sweet Thang” getting flirtatious. The country-inspired “Little Foot Big Foot” featuring Young Nudy tells the story of a young drug dealer, but then “Why Go to the Party” is just Donald harmoniously singing a capella. “The Violence” funkily talks about how cruel the world can be & “Final Church” euphorically ends Atavista with Donald talking about finding love.

Starting the deluxe run, “32.22” finds Donald whispering & then singing in auto-tune over an instrumental kin to Kanye West’s 6th album Yeezus & the final bonus track “Feels Like Summer” fuses contemporary R&B, neo-psychedelia, smooth soul, alternative R&B, chillwave, neo-psychedelia, psychedelic soul, bossa nova & downtempo covering various issues facing our world today.

If this is truly the 2nd to last Gambino album like he’s been saying over the past few years, then I’m not mad because it’s his most esoteric body of work to date. I can see why some other people may not like it because of how weird it can be but I like that the production draws from neo-soul, contemporary R&B, psychedelic soul, experimental hip hop, art pop, funk music, alternative R&B, neo-psychedelia, synth-funk & his vocals have continued to get better over time.

Score: 3.5/5

Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!” review

After seeing a bunch of success with his new FX comedy-drama Atlanta (which is actually one of my favorite shows on TV right now), it’s not too surprising for me to see Lancaster rapper/singer Childish Gambino dropping his 3rd full-length album just a month after the first season of his new show finished airing. In contrast to his last 2 albums which were primarily hip hop, this album sees Gambino experimenting with psychedelic soul throughout a vast majority of it. The album kicks off with it’s lead single “Me & Your Mama”, where Gambino’s singing to this girl he’s in love with over a funk rock beat. The track “Have Some Love” sounds VERY Parliament-Funkadelic inspired from top to bottom & lyrically, Gambino’s sending a sincere message to those who’re going through hard times & basically telling them that they should show love to one another. The track “Boogieman” has yet another funk rock sounding production but this time, he’s venting about the very recent violence towards police & African Americans. Might sound cliché to some since there’s been a lot of political music being made recently in light of Donald Trump being elected as our next president, but I personally find Childish Gambino’s hauntingly delivered vocals on here to enhance this track’s overall vibe. The track “Zombies” basically calls out the type of people who’re after him for his fame & the way this song’s sonically executed makes it this song makes it sound like a scary story being told. The track “Riot” lives up to it’s title in every aspect from it’s rock production to Gambino’s wild vocal delivery. The track “Redbone” has a smooth beat & lyrically, Gambino’s venting about how upset he is that his girlfriend cheated on him with another man & telling her that it’s too late for an apology. Might sound corny to some, but his vocal delivery on this song makes it more beautiful to me. The next track “California” talks about life in his home state & that this girl he’s seeing is trying to live her life like a Vine post. The production on here’s fittingly tropical sounding too & personally, I can absolutely understand where he’s going at lyrically on here especially since there are people these days who left social media control their every day life instead of living real life. The next track “Terrified” is kind of a sequel to “California” but in contrast to the previous track having a more party vibe to it, this one has a trippy beat & it lyrically sees him having a serious conversation with the same woman from the previous song. I really like the fast food wordplay on here, because I feel like it ties in with the song’s theme really well. The following track “Baby Boy” has a pretty funky/joyous beat & it’s dedicated to Gambino’s first born child, who was actually born just a couple months ago. The track “The Night Me & Your Mama Met” is a 3 & a half minute instrumental with romantic guitars, but the choir makes it sound spiritual to me as well. The album’s closer “Stand Tall” sees Gambino telling his son to stay strong no matter what & the lush production on here makes it feel like as if you’re actually listening to Childish Gambino singing this song to his son as he’s sleeping. Personally, I consider this to be Gambino’s most creative & ambitious work to date. I absolutely love the P-Funk influences he incorporates on here & while I do enjoy him as a rapper, I thought it was a nice change of pace to hear him primarily singing throughout because I’ve always found him to be a beautiful singer as well & he showcases it fantastically on here. I kinda wanna hear him spitting rhymes on his next project but on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if he continues to make this style of music in the future at all

Score: 4/5