Our pal Donald Glover launches his nationwide I AM DONALD tour this weekend, in which Donald the stand-up plays opening act to Donald the rapper (aka Childish Gambino). I saw a preview of the show a couple few months ago and I fully recommend it. But why take my word? Here’s a taste of each Donald.
STAND UP
RAPPER
Stand-up AND rap! Have you tried either of those things?! NO! Because they’re terrifying. Doing both is the performance equivalent to tandem skydiving with a great white shark. If you aren’t attending this show because it’s going to be a great time, go because it’s the closest you’ll ever come to seeing a man tandem skydive with a great white shark. Actually, I shouldn’t say that. I don’t know what Sir Richard Branson’s up to this year.
I AM DONALD TOUR
04/16 – Ames, IA @ Iowa State Center
04/18 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
04/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vertigo at the Complex
04/21 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
04/22 – Vancouver, BC @ The Rio Theatre
04/23 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
04/26 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
04/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Music Box (Henry Fonda Theatre)
04/28 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
04/30 – Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Café
05/02 – Dallas, TX @ The Loft
05/03 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio
05/04 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Alternative Lounge – Outside
05/06 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
05/08 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
05/09 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live
05/10 – New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
05/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
05/13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
05/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
05/16 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
05/17 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
05/18 – Chicago, IL @ Park West
05/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
Actor/comedian/writer/musician Donald Glover is a tough man to pigeon-hole. First of all, he’s spent his entire life not quite fitting into any category. Secondly, c’mon, he’s an ACTOR, COMEDIAN, WRITER AND MUSICIAN! And third, and possibly of greatest importance. . .What the hell is a pigeon hole?
In one of history’s biggest understatements . . . It’s a busy time to be Donald Glover. Let’s use this week as an example: Tonight, you can watch Donald Glover the actor as Troy, the emotionally-evolving ex-star football player on NBC’s “Community” (Thursdays, 8pm). Or, if you’re in Los Angeles, you can pop over to the NuArt Theatre for one of the final few screenings of “Mystery Team”, the feature debut from DERRICK Comedy, featuring Donald the actor, writer, and musician. Then on Friday (March 19) at 11pm you can catch the premiere of Donald the comedian’s “Comedy Central Presents” on, you guessed it, Comedy Central. On Saturday you will likely find Donald the musician, aka Childish Gambino, in his home recording studio putting the finishing touches on the rap album “Culdesac”, his follow-up to the Mixtape series and surprise sensation “I Am Just A Rapper”. On Sunday, God willing, he’ll rest. (Until Sunday night when he performs with the improv group Shitty Jobs at UCB-LA.)
All this from a guy who claims he doesn’t know how to multi-task!
While success is coming on strong, it is not entirely new for Glover, who got his “big break” as a staff writer on NBC’s “30 Rock” after spending his college years (NYU) dominating the internet with the previously-mentioned DERRICK Comedy. Poop or Chocolate’s Ben Axelrad got the fast-paced, fast-rising man-of-many-hats to slow down long enough to discuss where he’s been, where he’s at, and where he’s going. And also, all those hats.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Let’s start with some Childish Gambino questions since everyone prefers talking about their hobbies over work. Your “I Am Just A Rapper” (IAJAR) mixtapes have received widespread positive feedback for their synthesis of original rap music and preexisting indie rock songs. What inspired the idea?
First of all, I was surprised nobody had ever done this before. Indie kids love Jay-Z and The Clipse and Kid Cudi and stuff like that. And I feel like there are a million black kids who listen to indie music, but I know, for me, I was afraid to say I do. Rap is such a club culture now. Electronica and rap have kind of merged into each other because you’ve got this music that’s totally instrumental and syncopated and guys can rap over this loop that people can dance to in the club. And I like that music, but I think it was a problem for a lot of indie kids. They would say, like, “Oh, that MIA song is such a rip from The Clash,” so okay, let’s make one that’s totally The Clash. Let’s make one that has original guitars and drums and stuff that you’re used to hearing in indie music, rap over it and see how you feel. But I also didn’t want to make songs where the drums come in like boom-boom-chk, boom-boom-chk, like Korn or Limp Bizkit, and it’s the obvious “rock-rap” song. I listen to St. Vincent and stuff like that and some songs have no drums at all and the organ is the percussion. Or some songs will be like tom-tom-tom and no snare. Or maybe there’s a clap; or the tambourine is the snare. And there hadn’t been that exploration in rap yet. That’s what got me excited. There had never been a song where it was just a flute coming in like flute-flute-flute, and that becomes the percussion and you rap over it. It’s really cool.
The IAJAR Mixtapes are definitely your most open and revealing albums to date. Were you conscious of that as you made them?
Somewhat, yeah. I realized I was hiding behind things on the earlier albums, whether it be bravado and swagger or choosing an arbitrary thing like pink hoodies to be my “thing.” So on “IAJAR” I decided I would be my “thing.” I’d just do it straight and rap about things I care about. I like clothes; I’ll sing about clothes. People think I’m a weirdo; I’ll call myself a weirdo. And not to sound like the plot to “The Blind Side”, but the more I was me the better it went. And the more I was me the more I wouldn’t blend into the crowd. This culture niche that I am a part of is starving for hip-hop that is cool, but also self-aware. And when you’re open and let people see all of you the best stuff comes out. Like that John Mayer Playboy thing, I don’t think that was him. He was trying to sound witty and smart and cool. And the thing is, if you’re witty and smart and cool you’ll come off as witty and smart and cool just talking about whatever. But more than anything, the more truthful you are the more people tend to like you. Unless you’re a horrible person. And even that’s charming sometimes, because they usually don’t try to hide it. I don’t get it when people try to sound cool. The best shit comes out when you sound geekiest. Thus “I Am Just A Rapper”.
