tour w/ Rae Sremmurd.
i know Glover is getting pretty famous but i guess i'm surprised Childish Gambino can play arenas, even with Rae Sremmurd opening. or am i underestimating him? or do these venues include a post-Solo bump?
09-06 Atlanta, GA - Infinite Energy Arena 09-08 Chicago, IL - United Center 09-10 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre09-12 Boston, MA - TD Garden 09-14 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden 09-18 Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 09-19 Washington, DC - Capital One Arena 09-22 Houston, TX - Toyota Center 09-23 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center 09-26 Inglewood, CA - The Forum 09-27 Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena 09-29 Seattle, WA - KeyArena09-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Rogers Arena
― alpine static, Monday, 5 March 2018 19:11 (six years ago) link
That new video
― just sayin, Sunday, 6 May 2018 09:20 (six years ago) link
...is really good. The SNL episode was better than average too.
― Yerac, Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
i thought it was a really bad SNL episode actually, but his performances were good
― akm, Sunday, 6 May 2018 17:32 (six years ago) link
childish gambino is karmin without the blackface
― carles danger mous (s.clover), Monday, 7 May 2018 00:46 (six years ago) link
I still can't believe Redbone made it into the top 77 of our 2017 songs poll
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 7 May 2018 05:39 (six years ago) link
I can, because it's fuckin good
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 7 May 2018 11:59 (six years ago) link
Here's what showed up on my screen as soon as the last moments of the video ended:
https://i.imgur.com/USzSBZJ.png
― pplains, Monday, 7 May 2018 13:31 (six years ago) link
The new song/video are 100% fire
― Embalming is a flirty business (DJP), Monday, 7 May 2018 13:47 (six years ago) link
^^^
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 May 2018 13:49 (six years ago) link
― carles danger mous (s.clover), Sunday, May 6, 2018 8:46 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
uh care to expand on that
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Monday, 7 May 2018 14:27 (six years ago) link
yeah that's a pretty weird comment to lay out there. Is Glover/Gambino theatrical? Yes. otherwise I don't get what you're saying at all.
― akm, Monday, 7 May 2018 14:32 (six years ago) link
god there are so many bad takes on the video already and it's only monday morning
― Simon H., Monday, 7 May 2018 14:33 (six years ago) link
(not itt so much)
I took the Karmin comparison to mean "a showier, wild-appeal repackaging of popular contemporary sounds and ideas from an entertainer almost so good at it that it seems cynical."
― Evan R, Monday, 7 May 2018 14:52 (six years ago) link
except karmin are terrible and he isn't?
― akm, Monday, 7 May 2018 15:02 (six years ago) link
I was cringing at that Karmin comparison but didn't want to dissect what it means that a black person is not doing blackface.
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 15:58 (six years ago) link
I get that comment a little bit; I found the initial incarnation of Childish Gambino deeply, deeply unconvincing in sincerity of presentation; it always struck me as more of a “this is how a rapper would present this” pose rather than “I’m going to tell this story via rap” if that makes any sense. Karmin has a similar pose going on whenever Noonan raps and I find it super off putting and unenjoayble. CG on this track, both with the musical template, the story he’s telling, and the video he put with it, cleared a sincerity hurdle for me that lets me vibe without reservation with what he’s doing.
― Embalming is a flirty business (DJP), Monday, 7 May 2018 16:42 (six years ago) link
I feel similarly, early days CG felt a little theatrical, but now feels lived-in
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 7 May 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link
The critical about-face on Gambino as the world’s most unnecessary punchline rapper to the world’s most important political auteur is staggering.
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 7 May 2018 16:51 (six years ago) link
no question that the current incarnation of gambino is better than that initial incarnation. but donald glover is an extremely talented writer, and possibly the most gifted comic actor of his generation, and he should do that more and do music less.
― 808s & Deep States (voodoo chili), Monday, 7 May 2018 16:53 (six years ago) link
Ok, I now understand that comment by reading it "prior to this weekend, childish gambino was karmin without the blackface."
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 16:59 (six years ago) link
"god there are so many bad takes on the video already and it's only monday morning"
are there?
remember when we didn't need an exegesis to enjoy a music video? those were the days
video and commentary aside, musically this is definitely one of the best songs he's ever done; catchy, memorable, excellent.
― akm, Monday, 7 May 2018 17:33 (six years ago) link
I mean on twitter the two duelling takes I keep seeing seem to be "zomg this is An Incisive Commentary and Everything We Need Right Now" vs "this is an Irresponsible and Problematic statement that emphasizes black-on-black violence and fails to address...[etc.]" and like honestly can we just not do this
― Simon H., Monday, 7 May 2018 17:37 (six years ago) link
anyway I want to echo everyone who said this song seems to represent a step up even if I'm not 100% convinced yet (by his music that is - Atlanta is amazing)
― Simon H., Monday, 7 May 2018 17:41 (six years ago) link
Teddy Perkins >>>>> this video, certainly
― akm, Monday, 7 May 2018 17:59 (six years ago) link
― Simon H., Monday, May 7, 2018 7:37 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Was it ever not thus?
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 7 May 2018 18:02 (six years ago) link
I really liked the other song he did on SNL too. Like an upgraded Bruno Mars. A whole album of that please, especially since I was always fairly lukewarm on "Redbone."
― evol j, Monday, 7 May 2018 18:31 (six years ago) link
― akm, Monday, May 7, 2018 12:59 PM (forty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
tbh not sure that Teddy Perkins would make my top 5 of S2 Atlanta episodes
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 May 2018 18:42 (six years ago) link
tbh the comment was in regards to the latest video too. i've been really put-off by the amount this thing has been lauded. as political statements go its not very impressive imho and the very on-the-nose frission between the violence and gospel, the wry "look i'm rapping about guns" verses, the mugging in the video, all feels very theater-school or try-hard art project to me still. And the degree to which this is has been singled out as somehow above-and-beyond typical rap and r&b rather than a sort of clever-clever pastiche of it is has been getting to me.
― carles danger mous (s.clover), Monday, 7 May 2018 21:44 (six years ago) link
dang, that new video
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Monday, 7 May 2018 21:48 (six years ago) link
lol, oops sorry s. clover, that wasn't meant in response to you!
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Monday, 7 May 2018 21:50 (six years ago) link
glad to see someone else with some positive words for "Saturday", I thought that one was pretty cool too and "upgraded Bruno Mars" is very much otm.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 7 May 2018 21:54 (six years ago) link
I liked the song Saturday better at first, until I saw the video for This is America.
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 21:56 (six years ago) link
Bruno Mars is exponentially better at singing, dancing, performing and writing hits, please explain what this “upgrade” is
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 7 May 2018 21:56 (six years ago) link
I've just never connected with Bruno whatsoever. I get why people like him, I just have yet to not get immediately annoyed by any of his singles. "Saturday" seems a marginally more nuanced pastiche than Bruno's glaringly obvious ones.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 7 May 2018 22:02 (six years ago) link
s clover otm
― flopson, Monday, 7 May 2018 22:52 (six years ago) link
I mean I don't see how it's in question that donald glover's current music is several orders of magnitude better than his old stuff
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Monday, 7 May 2018 22:56 (six years ago) link
upgrade from Bruno mars not Childish Gambino
― flopson, Monday, 7 May 2018 23:02 (six years ago) link
Children go nuts when Bruno Mars' music comes on. That and Party in the USA.
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 23:08 (six years ago) link
my roommate loves old childish gambino. imo it is barely music
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 7 May 2018 23:08 (six years ago) link
"try-hard" is a great imprecise label for justifying your dislike of anything anywhere ever
― Tapes 'n Tapes of Osho (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 7 May 2018 23:18 (six years ago) link
Dude was rapping like Copywrite like three years ago but now he’s better than Bruno Mars
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 7 May 2018 23:19 (six years ago) link
but he is better than bruno mars in some ways. the way the snl performance was choreographed and shot, for example, was better than bruno mars.
― Tapes 'n Tapes of Osho (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 7 May 2018 23:25 (six years ago) link
Bruno Mars used to perform at the Ala Moana mall, so you know, people grow.
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 23:27 (six years ago) link
donald glover gawked pete wentz better
― Tapes 'n Tapes of Osho (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 7 May 2018 23:29 (six years ago) link
I keep re-reading sterling's criticism of the video trying to find something I agree with. Nope.
― Yerac, Monday, 7 May 2018 23:41 (six years ago) link
I was all set to start arguing with Whiney and then people started saying Childish Gambino does Bruno Mars better than Bruno Mars so now I just want to delete this entire thread
― Embalming is a flirty business (DJP), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 01:28 (six years ago) link
And the degree to which this is has been singled out as somehow above-and-beyond typical rap and r&b rather than a sort of clever-clever pastiche of it is has been getting to me.
i haven't seen takes along those lines floating around yet but maybe i'm not tuned in to the right places.
i find it difficult to read "this is america" as any kind of 'pastiche' or overly-studied intellectual performance piece as much as something that seems to emerge pretty seamlessly from where contemporary black music is as an idiom right now! like, childish gambino is now a very successful mainstream recording artist with bona fide hits under his belt. even though yes, his most recent and biggest to date clearly *was* pastiche of a bygone musical era, that his next hit (as "america" very obviously will be) would bear the aesthetics of today's mainstream rap should not be even remotely surprising, even considering his past as a niche, hokey punchline-rapper (which apparently many of us can't let go of).
it's certainly presented in a manner, with the video especially, where it's meant to be read as overt commentary, even if the listener doesn't immediately know what to make of it and only has a vague sense of each line or shot's specific poetic 'meaning'. but it's a mistake to assume that the political messages it wears on its sleeve are substantially different from the subtext of many contemporary hits that have been percolating through the ether at any given moment over the past few years.
another thing. through much of the history of pop music, there's been a strong tendency for (white) americans, however much they enjoy or dislike it, to view contemporary black music (celebratory and despondent alike) merely as raw, unpracticed and unrefined expression that almost-accidentally happens to resonate in the wider culture rather than as art that takes skill to create and finely honed intuition to connect to its audience. young thug, quavo and 21 savage are among the several other contemporary artists peppering contributions here-n-there throughout the track. is gambino's supposedly intellectualized, studied 'pastiche' inadvertently making a mockery of these artists and the idiom they operate within? does anyone believe none of those other artists included would be capable of creating or performing this himself, or that none could do it 'authentically'? is this just another lil dicky getting fetty wap to sing "we're gonna save that money!" on "thrift shop" version 0.6?
for me it's not, but ymmv.
― dyl, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 01:33 (six years ago) link
anyway i'm going to stop thinking now and just say that bruno mars is good but not that good, and the same is true of mr. glover.
― dyl, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 01:34 (six years ago) link