You might not know the rapper Childish Gambino, but there’s an above average chance that you’re familiar with Donald Glover’s other work. When not assembling mix tapes under the name Childish Gambino, he’s spent the past couple years writing for 30 Rock, playing Troy on Community and writing and performing skits with the Derrick Comedy group. In short, the guy’s hilarious. But it turns out he’s actually a pretty good rapper to boot. And really, quite possibly the only rapper who lists the Long Winters as an influence.
He’s released two mix tapes as Childish Gambino and to celebrate, he agreed to a quick interview with me. So head over to the above link to download his mix, which includes tracks culled from Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and — believe it or not — the new Knife album. That’s right, someone rapped over “Colouring of Pigeons.” You’re a brave, hilarious man Donald Glover.
Donald Glover / Childish Gambino :: the YANP interview
YANP: Your song “Get Like Me” was featured prominently in the trailer for Mystery Team. Was there a big response from that? I had to google it when it first came out and I found a lot of people that were looking for it too.
Donald Glover: Yeah. It was great. I got a ton of emails immediately, and I didn’t think there was going to be any. I just wanted to make a song that fit the trailer. Something dark and fun like the movie.
I love that you manage to work in Shining Time Station — probably the only TV show that’s never made its way into rap lyrics. What would you say are some of your favorite completely random reference in hip hop? Or, if you’d rather, what rapper/group always has the best obscure references?
I mean, MF Doom comes to mind first. Some of your geekier groups like The Pharcyde. But much like in television, I only like a reference if it’s completely relevant. The Gonzo line in “I AM JUST A RAPPER 2″ is one of my favorite, because it fits me perfect. “Oh, he’s weird and likes “chicks”.” I like that stuff. But I don’t want to be the “Not Another (Teen, dance, etc.) Movie” of rap. I wanna tell a story. Not a barrage of things you remember from other things.
What bands or musicians influenced you the most growing up? Who influences you the most now?
My dad was always playing Funkedelic. I loved them. But my first CD’s that I wore out were The Cranberries and No Doubt. I was in love with them. But in college was when I started toying with music and also started listening to rap for the first time. Jay-Z, Pharcyde, Lil Wayne. That coupled with the Sufjan Stevens albums I was obsessed with and stuff like The Long Winters. I think those had the biggest influence on my sound.
Continue reading the rest of the interview after the break.
While stopping by Zane Lowe’s BBC 1 radio show, Vampire Weekend did this cover of Rancid’s “Ruby Soho.” It would have trouble sounding much different than the original, but it does sound great.
So it turns out that I really enjoy putting together these covers archives. It gives me a chance to rediscover the depth of influences of some of my favorite bands and — in cases like this — rediscover how great the band is.
I used to be a HUGE Decemberists junkie. I’m still a fan, but about five years ago they would easily have ranked in my top five favorite groups still making music. I’ve dropped slightly on the fandom radar, but have always kept up with the group. So for that reason I knew they had to be next on my list to assemble a collection of their covers. They’ve been performing for years and have always delighted fans with a wide range of covers. I mean really, it’s everything from Kate Bush to the Modern Lovers over here…
For starters, we’ve got Colin’s three covers EPs, songs by Morrissey, Shirley Collins and Sam Cooke, then a complete list of all the Decemberists covers I could find.
After a fun and wild trip to Nashville, getting to see James Husband was a great way to relax. Jamey was backed by Of Montreal co-members Dottie and Davey, as well as Ricky from the Besties, Heather McIntosh on cello and someone I didn’t recognize on guitar. It had to be pretty close to a dream team lineup for Jamey, who just finished up his first major tour.
Undoubtably the best moment of the show was when the group (plus Kevin Barnes on drums) covered Lykke Li’s “Little Bit.” Jamey was clearly having a blast with it and it sounded fantastic.
I missed the majority of the Super Bowl, but the all my favorite blogs had this waiting for me when I got back. Even better than the A+ soundtrack of Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” is that it’s really funny! Not as cute as that Google one, but still fantastic.
I never forgot how good One For the Team are on record, but man did my memory fail me on how good they are live! I’d say the only think keeping them from putting on a Matt & Kim-level show is that M&K always look like they’re about five seconds away from exploding. But for four non-exploding kids from Minneapolis, One For the Team put on a hell of a show.
We got a lot of stuff from their new album Ghosts and a few old tracks that I recognized, both sounding equally fantastic. They also took advantage of the intimate venue to keep a good rapport with the audience. And when you’re in Kentucky, that means confessing your love for Ale8 and bourbon. Smart move, guys.
Since I’m making the drive to Nashville to see Of Montreal live in Nashville tonight, I figured it’d be fitting to post this fantastic recording of what seems to be the most promising of Of Montreal’s new songs. You can also check out a great quality live video of their new song “Teenage Unicorn Fisting” after the jump (that title is sure to land me on some interesting google search results pages).
“The Underdog” really raised the bar for Spoon videos. As such, this completely cool high contrast video for “Written in Reverse” seems juuuust a little bit boring. But then again, videos where we just watch the band play the song in a studio have always had an uphill battle.
