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The last fifteen years have seen revolutionary changes in popular music, from the emergence of melody in hip-hop - seen in Kanye West’s 808’s and Heartbreak or the first and second album off of Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon trilogy - to the advent of contemporary trap, a genre that has had a tremendous influence on visionaries like Young Thug and Future. However, one artist clearly stands out when it comes to incorporating all sorts of genres and styles: Donald Glover, known to most in the music industry as Childish Gambino. If anything has been clear about Glover, it is the fact that he is always willing to diversify and improve his musical talents. In fact, 2 key aspects stand out about Childish Gambino: 1. His versatility and willingness to expand into new genres/ music types and 2. The deep philosophical and personal themes intricately laced throughout the individual albums and the rest of the discography in the lyrics and music. These qualities have allowed Childish Gambino to shine as one of the greatest artists of the past decade.
It is nearly impossible to not discuss Childish Gambino’s life as an actor due to its strong connection with his music. The actor/rapper began his professional career, after being hired by Tina Fey to write on 30 Rock. Being the youngest to be on the show, he later went on to act on the hit TV show Community. In the past 10 years, Donald Glover has had the opportunity to act on the big screen through movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Martian, and even a special feature in Spiderman: Homecoming (hopefully we see him in a future movie as foreshadowed by an easter egg in the movie). He has also shown an impressive interest in music in many of his roles like his role in the musical Guava Island, with singer Rihanna and the motion picture version of The Lion King. Donald Glover has clearly shown that he will never fall into complacency and that he will always strive to be something better.
After releasing a few mixtapes, Gambino dropped his debut album Camp in November 2011. With hits like Bonfire and his previously released single, Heartbeat, Gambino made a mark on the music industry. Although it has a few breakout songs, Camp feels like a messily put-together piece of work. For starters, we don’t see the diverse and versatile music style that Gambino would go on to display in his later albums. Besides a few impressive vocal performances like in the tracks Kids and All the Shine, Gambino takes a very rap-oriented route throughout this album. As enjoyable as it can be, the production and lyrics can make this album really rough, such as the cartoonish, humorous flow on some songs that is sometimes annoying. In the song Bonfire, he exaggerates his voice, making it rather unpleasant to listen to. Glover also faced criticism for some of the lines he wrote.
In later albums, however, Glover’s overall style changes dramatically, but a few songs still exhibit some similar qualities. Camp does maintain a few themes - witnessing love and finding the right partner, dealing with depression, and understanding his purpose - and he does discuss some societal themes - masculinity and race. In the song Kids, he sings about how love is a complicated concept, so complicated that as a kid, he wouldn’t understand the emotional struggles that were attached to it. Along with that, he also discusses how stardom has resulted in some bad habits. In his next album, these themes are fleshed out, laced with enjoyable vocals and some iconic production.
The album Because the Internet proved to be one of Childish Gambino’s greatest milestones in his career. This album has many enjoyable tracks but allows time to discuss both abstract and traditional concepts. In fact, this album was actually developed from a screenplay written by Glover, allowing for a truly cinematic album experience. You can find this here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7fe7ljMOHssZkJPaWNGSWp1ZjQ/view?resourcekey=0-caCIXEzrZqXz42W9Fh159w
To summarize, the screenplay features a man, introduced as “The Boy”. The Boy is a rich, young man who makes a living off of being an internet troll, selling merchandise, and selling weed in his free time. Living a carefree life full of partying with friends who take him for granted, he soon witnesses a shooting at a club changing his whole perspective on his life. He quickly realizes that his friends have been leeching off of him and that his carelessness has led to some failing relationships.
There are many standout tracks in this conceptual, cinematic, and artfully created masterpiece of a project. Many of these songs require in-depth analysis to fully appreciate, so I have picked a couple to discuss:
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3005:
With over 468 million streams on Spotify, 3005 has proved to be one of Gambino’s biggest songs. However, many tend to misunderstand the message. In an interview, Glover noticed that people interpreted the song as a love song. He instantaneously debunked these evaluations claiming that the song is “kind of an existential thing”.
By definition, Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe, the philosophy that explores human existence. This philosophy was widely expanded throughout the album and the screenplay. In the interview, Glover draws an anecdote. He says that when he was younger, he was afraid of this big dog, but when he was with his younger sister, his duty to protect her made him brave enough to confront the dog. Referring to the chorus of the song:
No matter what you say or what you do When I’m alone, I’d rather be with you Fu** all these other n***as, Ill be right by your side ‘Til 3005, hol’ up (Hol’ Up)
the idea of existential loneliness is very common in this album. In the screenplay, after The Boy witnesses a death after a shooting in a local club, he realizes that his life and job have made his life worthless. Profiting off of weed and being an internet troll has done nothing for him and his society. And the people who he surrounds himself with are yes-men, using The Boy for his money. In 3005, he says
“Got a house full of homies, why I feel so the opposite?”
showing that his friends don’t genuinely care for him and that he realizes it. These lyrics indicate that Glover would much rather be with his lover because love is what gives him a purpose in his life.
But, the question remains - what can we learn from The Boy in this song? One can refer to the 3005 Music Video, directed by Hiro Morai:
This video is set in a forever rotating Ferris wheel. In the frame, we see Donald Glover sitting next to a big teddy bear that seems to be alive. Every time the Ferris wheel makes a rotation, the camera makes a rotation showing the rest of the city, returning to the frame of Glover and the bear.
The key detail that makes this video so abstract is the rotating Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel is often a setting for romance and love - usually, the two people have a date and ride in a cabin on the Ferris wheel. However, the fact that the wheel constantly rotates is symbolic of the never-ending cycle of time. Returning to the main focus of the song, the number 3005, 3005 is meant to be a year so far that it feels like forever. In fact, when you join the two middle digits “0” and “0” (00), you form the infinity sign - ∞. The video can prove this symbolism. In the beginning, we can see a couple sitting right behind Gambino. These people looked young with a head full of hair.
But the next time we see them, they are older with grey hair.
And in the last take, they are completely gone, showing that the rotations taken by the Ferris wheel are a symbol of the passing of time.
Looking at the bear, we see that every time the camera takes a full rotation, the bear gets substantially more beaten down and old. Teddy Bears are usually used by children who cuddle and sleep with them. Hence, the bear most likely symbolizes youth and an artificial partner at youth. Children hold onto them because teddy bears are soft and an alternative form of friendship. When put into context, the initial scene could indicate the youth and naivete of Glover who sits alone with the bear. At the end, however, we don’t see Glover and the people in the back, leaving the bear who is completely beaten down showing that this bear has become old as well. The beaten-down image of the bear represents Glover’s loss of innocence and death. This whole video shows that being in a relationship is really just like the relationship with a teddy bear - having an “artificial partner”. People hold onto them to get a purpose in their life. However, no matter what happens, one person will die first in a relationship. Therefore, It is inevitable for us to die alone and relationships won’t change this fact. Glover conveys the idea that relationships can’t be the cure to our existential loneliness. We must accept the fact that we need to love ourselves before others.
This proves to be the absolute opposite of the “love song” interpretation. Quite on the contrary, we can clearly see that Glover warns against love and romance as a cure for existential loneliness.
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Flight of the Navigator
Flight of the Navigator is a beautifully constructed song with some faded out chords and amazing vocals. In an interview with Genius, Ludwig Göransson explains how this was the first song that he produced on BTI. They first played some chords, the focus behind the instrumentals in the song. Then they added a “WOWOWOWOW WEEE” vocal sample, apparent in the background of the song along with a 70s synthesizer movie sound. With the addition of the vocals, Göransson explains that they added a whistle made by Donald. Together, they were able to create a sorrow song that fits into the emotional context of the screenplay.
In the screenplay, the song is played just after kicking everyone out of his house during a party. After going for a drive and coming back, The Boy attempts to take his life by consuming a bottle of pills explaining the psychedelic mood depicted in the song. He is next seen in the hospital where the song is played. Overall, this song proves to be a beautifully produced track with amazing vocals and an effortless transition within the plot of the screenplay.
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Besides its deep thematic significance, BTI is able to extend beyond the basic factors of music - lyrics, and production. Gambino builds a whole universe encapsulating the principles that he believes are important to convey, essentially building to the aesthetic of the album through a screenplay, multiple music videos, and even a consistent use of a getup. However, through all these images and narratives, there is an overall theme and it revolves around “Roscoe’s Wetsuit”.
The phrase “Roscoe’s Wetsuit” was used often in his screenplay. In the screenplay, The Boy first encounters this phrase in a tweet as he scrolls through his Twitter. Clueless of what the phrase means, he scours google and returns with no answer. He sees that somebody had spray-painted the phrase on the sidewalk. Later he sees a large, white billboard with the words “Roscoe’s Wetsuit”.
It is clear that, like the reader, The Boy searches for the meaning of “Roscoe’s Wetsuit” all throughout the narrative. And if you read the screenplay, you would have noticed that it was never made clear about what this phrase means and why it is so important. But the main takeaway we can get from this album, the screenplay, and the entire BTI universe is that “Roscoe’s Wetsuit” means nothing.
Essentially, “Roscoe’s Wetsuit” depicts how things become memed into the internet and into the mainstream without little reason or explanation. And in contrast, we as humans try to find connections in ordinary things and try to find meaning and purpose in what we do. We try so hard to make ourselves feel useful by questioning things around us, but we never question why we do what we do. We don’t question what it really means to have a purpose and why that holds in importance. In a video where somebody asks Glover the real meaning behind “Roscoe’s Wetsuit”, Glover asks why they needed to know the real meaning.
The truth is that no matter what we do, whatever we do means nothing. Life means nothing. Hence, Life is the Biggest Troll - the name of the track that wraps up the entire album.
Nonetheless, BTI has its flaws. Being so dependent on a screenplay could detract listeners who may not feel as invested in appreciating the extensions of the album. Not to mention that this screenplay has many flaws. It barely shows any character arc for those within The Boy’s circle and it doesn’t seem to be very engaging. Some moments do carry on from Camp as well, such as the dry one-liners.
But BTI succeeds with advanced production and deep existential themes. In fact, we see qualities from this album that will later prove to be beneficial in his future projects with superior singing in Awaken, My Love, and Kuai as well as the detailed storytelling in Atlanta. Overall, Because the Internet proved to be a great album and a defining moment in Childish Gambino’s career.
In the next article, we will discuss how Glover changed the world with his album Awaken, My Love, "This is America", and more!
Edited by Gohitha Venkluri
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