Childish Gambino’s “Royalty”
To start with, let’s talk about Gambino’s new mixtape. If you like rap, or if you like Childish Gambino, go to his website, www.iamdonald.com, and it will automatically start a download of a zipped archive with the entire CD. If you don’t know how to open the download, google WinRar and download that as well, it’s incredibly easy to use, just open the file and use the extract option to place it in a new folder. The mixtape is free, following Gambino’s general concept that his music should be free.
Now for the actual review: it’s amazing. I hadn’t even heard about it, it’s been out almost 2 weeks. A big shout out to my friend Robby, who recommended it to me a few days ago. After the first song, I knew I was hooked. I’ve always been a Gambino fan, I’ve actually been to one of his concerts, and my Timeline Cover is a picture of me and a couple of friends with him. As a fan, I can honestly say that this mixtape exceeded my expectations. With each album and mixtape Gambino releases, I find him drifting further and further into “real” rap, but I love it. His first mixtapes were, well, awesome. But they weren’t really “rap.” They were great covers of indie songs that he laid down awesome lines on, but they were never super hip-hop by nature. That’s how I got hooked at first. Camp, while it was the tour that I saw, is probably my least favorite of his work, because it started to split the difference between his style and modern rap; far too much synth and pop-background without the content from the originals that made it feel unique. Royalty, however, has transcended that pseudo-rap style and grown into a full blown rap album. The lyrics are still honest, but his partners for these songs are real rappers, and it all gets very real.
Seriously, it’s awesome. There’s even a cover of “Toxic” by Brittney Spears that probably ranks in my top 5 out of the 18 songs on this album. Beyond that, the last song even has a short cameo by Tina Fey. While I’m not a huge fan of the actual lines/style that she brings, hearing her on the CD still made me really happy, and it exudes the Tina Fey style that we’ve all learned to love.
Overall, 5/5, and an incredible comeback for Gambino in my opinion. Check it out, if you’ve got the time.
