mixtape maestro (2.0)

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Childish Gambino “Hold You Down” Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:54 PM PST If one’s looking for laughter, there’s plenty of yuks to be found throughout Camp, the retail debut of comedian-actor Danny Glover’s rap alter-ego Childish Gambino: Start with the faux Wu Tang moniker, then proceed to get your chuckles out over the album’s odd (and slightly corny) bits of Gambino shower-singing that seem to spoof Drake and Kid Cudi’s pedestrian R&B croons, the amusingly lower-budget (though quite good) stabs at My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy production decadence, and, oh yeah, the densely constructed wordplay punchlines that bubble up about every other line, revealing new lyrical nuggets of (usually self-deprecating) LOL gold with every repeat listen. Dig a bit deeper beneath all the humor being flung about though and Camp manages to hit you in places well beyond just the funny bone, its strikingly personal overarching theme of the self-identity struggles/ frustrations that arise when one is black but rarely considered “black” by others resonating far heavier than the wit it hides behind. On highlight “Hold You Down”, a track that leans hard on the album’s blatant Kanye influence thanks to the production’s handclaps, sorrowful piano notes, knocking drums and flashes of strings conjuring up a classy cinematic flair, CG recalls a long, painful history of being the target of others’ harsh judgement, from school kids ragging on his cheap threads (“‘You such a fuckin’ lame’/ It’s what they used to yell back in seventh grade/ My momma said she’d get me that new jacket when the cost go down/ Hit the office, stole some Tommy Hil from lost and found”) to those questioning the “authenticity” of his blackness (“Niggas got me feelin’ I ain’t black enough to go to church/ Culture shock at barber shops cause I ain’t hood enough/ We all look the same to the cops, ain’t that good enough?”). When confronted by someone who “vetoes” his African-American card simply because he grew up with a dad in his life, Gambino takes a brief pause before muttering “I think that’s kinda sad/ Mostly cause a lot of black kids think they should agree with that”, and oh how those two lines pierce the insides, not only because of the somberly way he releases them, but because the spitted words, unfortunately, hold so much truth. That CG doesn’t just stop there with his oh-so-poignant display of raw honesty and continues on spending “Down”‘s final moments relating how he’s refused to let these life-long tribulations completely destroy his spirit, opting instead to use them as fuel for his own world-conquering ambitions–all without losing a lick of his sharp wit (“I won’t stop until they say, ‘James Franco is the white Donald Glover’/…They ask me what I’m doin’, I say I’m stealin’ rock back”)–only elevates the record to a whole new plateau of excellence. Color us impressed, and firmly now of the mind that this multi-talented cat, with a little more fine-tuning, has some Grammy attention coming his way sometime in his future. Hear the track below, stream the rest of Camp (due November 15th) over at NPR. “Hold You Down” (iTunes) (Amazon): Download audio file (Childish-Gambino-Hold-You-Down.mp3) This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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