Childish Gambino’s “Camp”

Daily you’re presented with new albums and new faces from up and coming rappers, older rappers who’re trying their absolute hardest to stay current, and sometimes you get great things like this. You get Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover from Community) who is not only educated, but manages to tie his words together so gruesomely elegant that it has you hooked throughout the entire song.

It’s safe to say that he brings a much needed breath of fresh air to rap and hip-hop. There’s parts of his songs that are so mind bending that you have to go back just to remember the exact moment that he’s said it. For example, “Uncool, but lyrically I’m a stone cold killer. So it’s 400 blows to these Truffaut n***as.” The 400 Blows is a movie that was directed by legendary French film director François Truffaut. Manages to mention the movie, the director, and ties in the metaphor of him being a killer by mentioning 400 blows, as in 400 gun shots.

The album doesn’t end there. It continues to bring more lines filled with rage, emotion, cleverness, and especially, outstanding deliverance. The album packs a punch; it’s a wonderfully written piece of work, and there’s not enough praise in the world to give Donald Glover for putting the script down and making a conscious effort to create a rap album. Only some people manage to act and rap in such a great harmony, and this just goes to show that it can be down, and both of the arts can be done beautifully.

If you want to check out Camp, it’s available on iTunes for $7.99.