![]() ![]() ![]() I’ve read criticism of “Awaken…” that tends to focus on “California” as being too silly of a song, too shallow, too whimsical, too goofy, whatever. Drunk, stoned, and fully in rebound mode, the two of us spent our down time talking about and listening to music, MF DOOM, The Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, but “Awaken, My Love!” grounded everything into a sexy, funky make out album. Personally, the song became the soundtrack to a brief romance that happened during a time of relationship upheaval in my life. It is impossible not to enjoy unless you are so deeply cynical that you just don’t like music. Nearly a year after its release it would be everywhere. Yeah, his raps aren’t heady, but he can do it well enough, he can act wonderfully, but have you heard the smoothest falsetto since “Suit & Tie” to drop? Have you seen the performance on Jimmy Fallon? It will make you question your sexuality, bro. He transcended into a modern-day version of the ol’ song-and-dance man of yore, and iconic figure of entertainment who was capable of anything. My impression of Donald Glover as an artist shifted entirely. Not long after, the single that took over everything and made the whole world pay attention, “Redbone” dropped. ‘ This has to be a fluke,‘ I thought to myself as I closed the bar and turned on some heavy metal to scare the stragglers, letting the song pass me by. The song immediately caught my ears as well as the iconic “Awaken, My Love!” cover art glowing from across the pine. At some point, between repeat plays of “Wagon Wheel” and Big Sean I started hearing “Me and Your Mama” out int the wild. I worked at a bar at that time that had the misfortune of having a jukebox. I didn’t get the appeal when there was so much great hip-hop coming out in the early ‘10s. My impression of his fandom was theater kids who liked Community and barely listened to hip-hop outside of Gambino and maybe J Cole, Kendrick, and Chance, The Rapper good company to be sure, but he didn’t seem to fit. What I had heard of his rapping up until that point was ok, lots of punchlines and nothing overly thoughtful. In 2016, I was not a Childish Gambino fan.
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