Album Review: Childish Gambino – “Camp”
I find it really weird that Camp is being hyped as the debut album by Childish Gambino’s (AKA Donald Glover of Derrick Comedy, NBC’s Community). The fact is that it is the thirteenth over-all musical release by Glover following three full length albums (Sick Boi, Poindexter, and Culdesac), three extended plays (I Am Just a Rapper, I Am Just a Rapper 2, and EP), and six remix releases as his other alter ego MC DJ. However, this is his first release through a record label after signing with Glassnote, the home of Mumford & Sons and Phoenix.
Fans worried that Gambino may have softened following his move to a label need not worry. Camp is just as raw and raunchy as his previous releases. He raps about the women he fancies, his experience growing up as the exiled (and at times, only) black kid, how great he is and his sexual exploits. I will be amazed if there is ANY radio play of this album without a good number of edits.
His more confessional tracks will leave you wanting to find him and give him a hug to comfort him. The short “Letter Home” is him professing love for the one who got away and “Kids (Keep Up)” is Glover yearning for the kind of love you feel when you’re a kid. While others will make you worry for his sanity like the intense “Backpackers” that discusses his experience in the rap culture and those who refuse to take him seriously while the synth-heavy bipolar love song “Heartbeat” goes through the nameless girls he likes (and doesn’t).
Glover clearly evolved between his previous full album, Culdesac, and his last EP and this same evolution has continued into Camp. The production of the disc is polished and includes new instrument usage throughout and even features a choir in the opener “Outside.” Having said that, his evolution will not alienate fans as Camp manages to keep the feel of his music that was been in since 2008′s Sick Boi.
As much as I enjoy Camp, it is not perfect (but it’s close). The second track, “Fire Fly, is such a cliché laden radio single type of song. The chorus is just so typical of the pop radio hip hop that turns me off to the genre. It’s not that the track doesn’t sound beautiful and real, it’s just not what I like in the genre. Although, It does makes me respect the choice to release “Bonfire” as the lead single though. “Bonfire” is certainly not a typical radio track. There are a few other things that have always been sprinkled into his music that makes me cringe as one who normally doesn’t like hip hop or rap, but I think these are things that help him transcend to a wider audience. It’s like he knows the exact formula to please new people, excite longtime fans and impress the group of fans who enjoy his music because they are a fan of him as a personality and his comedic work, which initially included myself until I heard all of Culdesac.
In conclusion, Camp is the perfect successor to the free EP (or FreeP) he released earlier this year and really should open more doors for him as a musical artist. This idea does make me nervous that as a huge fan of the show Community. I have my fingers crossed that he won’t leave the show to pursue being Childish full-time since part of what makes him so interesting as a personality is that he is an actor/rapper/comedian/writer/producer. If he were to do so, I’d probably still be on board.
This will be the first Childish Gambino album that is not being offered for free download through Donald Glover himself and will it IS worth paying for.
Camp drops November 15th via Glassnote Records.
For more on Donald Glover visit his website
For free downloads of his past releases visit the Childish Gambino Blog
and…
To hear Camp in its entirety (like I did) visit the exclusive NPR stream of the album.
_Daniel Cordova
Ovacord
Author’s note: I should point out that I am aware of the misogynistic elements of his lyrics. He has stated that his lyrics are based on personal experiences in his life and are directed at specific people without naming them and not an overarching feeling towards a gender. Whether this is forgivable is questionable but I also felt like “Childish Gambino” is a character of sorts that reflects the modern state of hip hop music and that him presenting the worst of the worst holds a mirror to the negative aspects of the genre.
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