Camp
When Childish Gambino, the project of visionary artist Donald Glover, released his debut album, *Camp*, in 2011, he was an alternative media phenomenon. The *Derrick Comedy* alumni and *30 Rock* writer made his name in improv long before he was a household name as a musician. It’s this mindset that informs his debut LP, *Camp*, an album as indebted to the quick-wittedness of his improv comedy roots as the rap albums he grew up idolizing. On the album opener, “Outside,” Glover outlines his feelings of loneliness and isolation from the community he was raised in. Over pulsating drums and a soulful choir, he raps, “Mrs. Glover ma’am, your son is so advanced/ But he’s acting up in class and keeps peeing in his pants/And I just wanna fit in, but nobody was helping me out/ They talking hood shit and I ain’t know what that was about.” On “Les,” Gambino raps over a heartbeat-like pulsing bass and stirring strings that accentuate his pop side. Aside from his versatility, the artist also found success thanks to the way he used the internet to harness his audience. It was a one-stop shop where he could interact with his fans and introduce them to his new music. *Camp* is a heady, intense album, with Glover introducing pop-rap beats as an obvious counterbalance to his heavy meditations on race, religion, and the unique role of hip-hop in the cultural sphere. The LP serves as an introduction to a style of music Gambino would hone over the years, blending intense, thought-provoking ideas with moments of levity and playfulness. Some would argue that he mastered this approach with his hit TV show *Atlanta*, but it all began with his debut album, *Camp*.
"Community" star Donald Glover's fourth hip-hop collection-- the first with a commercial release-- is preposterously self-obsessed, but not the least bit self-aware.
With a stream of free mix-tapes and EPs released over the last several years under his Childish Gambino guise, Community’s Donald Glover proved himself a serious rapper, rhyming with more verve and venom than anybody would have expected from the co-star of a loony NBC sitcom. Though he wasn’t usually rapping about…
"Man, why does every black actor have to rap some? / I don't know - all I know is I'm the best one." Those lines from Childish Gambino's "Bonfire," the first single off of his first release on Glassnote, perfectly exemplify one-half of Donald Glover's rap career. He's cocky, arrogant and knows he's about to break out of this stratosphere. The other half, however, is more humble and he's still angry and insecure about events that transpired in his life.
Discover Camp by Childish Gambino released in 2011. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
<p>Donald Glover is an actor, a comedian – and a true rapper, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong></p>
The overall result is a messy jumble that, in its inability to find a consistent tone, ends up in a place that hasn’t really been explored before.
<p>Actor by day, Kanye impersonator by night. That's <strong>Paul MacInnes</strong>'s take on Childish Gambino</p>