As everyone should be well aware of by now, 2016 belongs to Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino. In this marvelous year, we have witnessed his rise in television and the mainstream media with his socially driven show, Atlanta. This one season long controversial expression not only was critically claimed, but it gave Glover a chance to change his perception to his audience. Even though he stared as the protagonist in the show, he displayed his impressive talent for writing and directing. No longer was Gambino, the average rapper who acted on the side, the center of his persona. For the first time, Donald Glover gave us a glimpse at what could be. At approximately 8:00pm on the first night of December, Glover shined through as he rightly should. Releasing his 3rd studio album Awaken, My Love! under his surname Childish Gambino, Glover completely transitions from that rapper he once was. As it will come as a surprise to the average Gambino fan, the album is not classified as Rap, or even Hip-Hop. In fact, he doesn’t rap one line in the 11-song effort. Instead, Gambino created one of the most immersive R&B/Soul albums of the year. Three years since his last studio LP, Glover completely innovated a new identity. In this business, changing your whole character when you have an established following is almost impossible. Glover did this effortlessly, and quite beautifully. Not only was this transition done smoothly, it was premeditated. As explained in a recent interview with Power 105.1’s the Breakfast Club, Glover states “I don’t want to be a rapper.” He goes on to explain that he thinks the title is so restricting, and knows he can do so much more. It is seen that Glover really was speaking truthfully, as the rapper we once knew is hidden under this soulful effort.
In Awaken, My Love!, Glover
gives us a storyline just like his show Atlanta. In Atlanta,
Glover portrays a struggling father who tries to follow his true passions in
the music industry. Earn, Glovers
character, falls upon his cousin who was just starting to breakout as a rapper
by the name of Paperboi. Over the course
of the show, they go through trials to try and get more recognition for the up
and coming rapper, but each new trail becomes a tribulation. However, in the ten-episode season there are
some bright moments, and Earn never looses his passion. What was most interesting about this show was
not the story itself, but the way it was portrayed. In a non-linear fashion, it is portrayed that
Earn always came close to truly succeeding, but always missed the mark. Instead of focusing on the storyline,
character development was the most important part of Atlanta. Earn is just a man trying to attain his dreams, but the
realities of life always seem to catch up to him. Weather those realities are supporting his
family, or the issues he faces with being a member of the African American
community, it becomes the norm for Earn to come closer to his goal, but fail in
each episode. Not only is the non-linear
storyline a great way to develop characters, but also there is not an
established time in the show. It is
never revealed to the audience if these ten episodes take place in a month, one
year, or more. This adds to each
characters story, as Earn could be chasing his dream for a very long period of
time. With each new episode, we are
filled with many emotions, and Glover manages to put each one in Awaken, My Love!.
The album starts off with Me and Your Mama, and Have
Some Love. These two songs are filled with sentiments of affection. In each song, we see Glover with a passion
for something. Whether it be the girl he
is referencing in Me and Your Mama, or
the notion of family in Have Some Love, he
has true feelings for these two entities. This can be
paralleled to Atlanta, in each new
episode Earn still has this love for music.
As the album continues on it becomes less joyful with each new song, with the exception of the light hearted, 70's feel of California.
Each song is titled with some sort of negative emotion, that is highlighted by
the lyrics. In Terrified, Glover explains his mistrust with society as a whole,
also seen in his television show. As he
explains in the song, “catch a n**** creeping behind you, people watching
underground.” This sense of paranoia
that Glover is feeling is rooted in his identity as a whole. Like each episode of Atlanta, Earn always gets out of his situation somehow, to wake up
the next day and do it all over again.
This perseverance that he has so much of is perfectly captured in
Glover’s last song on the album, Stand
Tall. In this song, Glover seems to
have overcome all of his previously displayed fears, and ends with the perfect
sentiment to “keep all your dreams, keep standing tall.” It seems as if Glover and his character Earn
are truly one, especially in this masterpiece.
Three years was a long time to wait, but Donald Glover/ Childish Gambino
did not upset. For the first time, he
has proven that he can sincerely do it all.
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