Childish Gambino
Remember those bastards at school who were good at everything? Schoolwork, sports, pulling the opposite sex – that's Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. Starting out as a comedian/actor with roles either side of the camera for 30 Rock and Community, Glover has somehow been able to metamorphose into a credible MC with the added ability to produce, play instruments and sing his ass off. His first album, 2011's Camp, was testament to his abilities and the follow-up, Because The Internet, sets out to solidify his rep. As far removed from the simple loop-and-flow aesthetic of '90s hip hop as possible, Because The Internet is an intricate, unhinged combination of abrasive synth noise, trap-inspired drums, sweet soul, introspective, visual rhymes, seemingly scatter-gun, jolting edits and pin-prick SFX. It's an unsettling, unpredictable musical landscape that, for the most part, works a treat.
The album's title refers to the all-pervasiveness of the interwebz, the set in equal parts celebrating and mocking the 24/7 broadcast fast life where nothing is secret and every indiscretion is forever enshrined in the cloud. First single, love declaration 3005 blossoms over its inspiring synths, yet darkness lurks around every corner, the funky, soulful Shadows brutally decapitated by Thundercat while Zealots Of Stockholm and Earth: The Oldest Computer featuring Azealia Banks are punctuated with ugly sawtooth noise. Like a pastiche of recent Kanye, Drake and Cudi, Childish Gambino's violated soul treads the line between mainstream and underground, sweetness and evil in a way that suggests there is some degree of genius at work.
