A Wild Gambino Appears

This is it, it had to be this very thing to bring me back to the blog. It is ALWAYS him. Donald, Gambino, whichever you prefer to call him. This artist and multi-talented entertainer have evolved into the equivalent of a modern-day Renaissance man. We here on The Block have watched his meteoric rise from its inception and this looks to be where it all culminates. A couple years back at a live performance Childish Gambino announced that he was stepping away from the music and his next album would be his last. After that, he was very silent about his works. Releasing singles here and there, collaborations would pop up. But, we heard no semblance of a project, that is until today.

(Image: bbc.com)

Early Sunday morning (March 15) we were graced with the new untitled album from Childish Gambino. This was out the blue and very much needed in a very tense and uncertain social climate. This album was not released on any streaming platforms, it is only available to listen by visiting Donald Glover Presents . You won’t find much there but the artwork for what looks to be a four-panel cover and a play button. There is no tracklist, no real information has been released about this album or project at all. But here is what we know so far.

(Image: Pitchfork.com)

This is a 12 track project with collaborations with Ariana Grande and 21 Savage. The sound moves more from the funk stylings of Redbone and feels more in line with his earlier work that blended a lot of electronic elements into the boom-bap and soul musings that we have grown to love from Mr. Glover. This overall is a unique experience for any modern listener in this streaming era of music. This removes all control from the listeners and you are made to listen to the project from beginning to end with no skips, shuffle, or pauses. It makes me feel like I have started vinyl and locked the box up so I can’t mess with it. This had to be done on purpose because the average listener does not play most albums in order nowadays, especially if you’re on streaming platforms such as Apple Music or Spotify. So to have this be the only way for you to digest the album you need to be ready to listen to it once you start it. Out of the twelve tracks, 10 are new or at least never released. The 2018 hit “Feels Like Summer” and 2019 single “Algorythm” both make an appearance on this project. But overall, this is an amazing listen and I can see myself streaming on repeat all day.  I will say, that I do wish that since this is his final album, there would have been more of mixtape Gambino and a return of some lyricism. But, I understand that is no longer where he is musically speaking. But the sound is still amazing. We get a glimpse from a song which may be called either  I love Myself or Wait A Minute, again we don’t really know yet with no tracklist. I know I will need a few more playthroughs to fully sink my teeth into this album. Good thing everybody is staying indoors this week trying to avoid the apocalypse. Which honestly is reminiscent of what is happening on that cover art. I might give a full breakdown of that in another post.

(Image: Musicfeeds.com.au)

I for one am super ecstatic about this new album, even if it means that this is his last. We finally have new music from Gambino, now all we need is for Atlanta to come back, fingers crossed people. Fingers crossed.

(Source: Billboard)