Glover, Jr was born at Edwards Air Force Base, California and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother, Beverly (Smith, is a retired daycare provider, and his father, Donald, Sr, is a retired postal worker. His parents also served as DeKalb County foster parents for 14 years. He was raised a Jehovah's Witness. He was voted "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his High School yearbook. Glover, Jr graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in dramatic writing in 2006.
From 2006 to 2009, Glover, Jr was a writer for the NBC series 30 Rock where he also had occasional cameo appearances. He was presented the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season. Glover, Jr's stage name, Childish Gambino, came from the Wu-Tang Clan's name generator. On June 5, 2008, he released an independent album, titled Sick Boi. Glover, Jr would then become a member of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, along with Dominic Dierkes, Meggie McFadden, DC Pierson, and Dan Eckman. The group wrote and starred in a feature-length film, Mystery Team, released in theaters in 2009.
On September 17, 2009, Childish Gambino released the independent album Poindexter. A pair of mixtapes, titled I Am Just a Rapper and I Am Just A Rapper 2 were released, in close succession in 2010. Robert Scahill added his producing expertise helping with the majority of the tracks. The track listings for those mixtapes consist of the name of the song "he" raps, followed by the song he raps over. His second album, Culdesac, was set to be released on July 2, 2010, but a couple of last minute additions caused the album to be delayed for a day. The album was made available on July 3. Glover, Jr has stated in interviews that on Sick Boi and Poindexter he felt he had to hide behind gimmicks, such as pink hoodies, but with his subsequent projects, he has touched on more personal subject matter, including family, schoolyard bullying, troubled romantic relationships, suicidal thoughts and alcoholism. He has disowned his 2005 album, The Younger I Get, as the too-raw ramblings of what he calls a "decrepit."
Glover, Jr's stand-up special aired on Comedy Central on March 19, 2010. In May 2010, a fan suggested Glover, Jr for the role of Peter Parker in the then-upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man film, encouraging his supporters to retweet the hashtag "#donald4spiderman". The campaign, originally started to see how far social networking could carry a message, quickly gained a large following. The call for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee. Glover, Jr was not awarded an audition and the role instead went to Andrew Garfield. He would later reveal that he was never contacted by anyone from Sony Pictures for the role. Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover, Jr's campaign went viral. Bendis gave credit to Glover for influencing the new hero's looks for Spider-man after seeing him dressed as Spider-Man on Community (a nod to the campaign), Bendis said, "I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.'" Glover, Jr would later voice this incarnation of Spider-Man on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.
Glover, Jr received the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July 2010. Glover, Jr was featured in Gap's 2010 Holiday ad campaign. He DJs and produces electronic music under the moniker "mcDJ" (pronounced "M-C-D-J"). His music is often made available for free download via his website.
On December 1, 2010, Glover, Jr released the first track off of his EP titled "Be Alone". He released the next track, "Freaks and Geeks", as well as a five-song track list, on February 11, 2011. On February 25, Glover, Jr released the dates for the IAMDONALD tour and also his very first music video for "Freaks and Geeks". The music video was shot by Dan Eckman, the director of the Derrick Comedy troupe. This song was later used in an Adidas commercial featuring Dwight Howard. On March 8, 2011 Glover, Jr released the EP via his official website.
On March 16, 2011, Glover, Jr hosted the mtvU Woodie Awards held live at South By Southwest. On March 24, 2011, Glover, Jr taped his one-hour comedy special Weirdo for Comedy Central; it aired on November 19.
Glover, Jr appeared at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 9 in the 'This Tent' as Childish Gambino and June 11 at 'The Comedy Theater' with Bill Bailey performing stand up. Comedy Central streamed the comedy live on their website.
On May 4, 2011, in an interview with TheHipHopUpdate, Gambino revealed that he was working on an LP, to be released in September. On July 25, 2011, Glover, Jr announced that his new album would be titled Camp. On October 8, during his Orlando, Florida concert, he announced Camp would be released on November 15, 2011. Glover, Jr worked with friend and film composer Ludwig Göransson on the debut album. On August 20, 2011, at the Los Angeles Rock The Bells concert, he gave an interview to AllHipHop.com, and he announced to the crowd that he had signed with Glassnote Records. On September 20, his first official single, "Bonfire", was released.
The IAMDONALD tour made 24 stops in 34 days, beginning with Ames, Iowa, on April 16, and finishing with Minneapolis on May 19. In between, this included stops at music venues in Las Vegas, Houston, Washington, and Atlanta. The tour was a one-man live show that consisted of rap, comedy, and video segments.
The Sign-Up Tour was Glover, Jr's next pre-album tour. He visited 11 cities over the course of 38 days in October and November 2011. Chidlish G made a website for the tour called Camp Gambino on November 19, four days after his album released. The tour featured special guest Danny Brown and made 20 stops during the course of 32 days along a dates in California in December. On March 14, 2012, several dates on the CAMP tour were postponed due to a fractured foot Childish suffered on March 10, while performing in Tampa, Florida. The tour began in Austin, Texas on April 5 and ended August 10 in Hollywood, California.
On January 11, 2012, Childish Gambino announced on his website that a new mixtape would be coming out soon. On April 2, he released a new song, "Eat Your Vegetables", through his website. On May 14, Funkmaster Flex premiered "Unnecessary," featuring Schoolboy Q. On May 16, Gambino released "We Ain't Them" through his website, produced by himself and frequent collaborator Ludwig. On May 22, Glover, Jr appeared on Das Racist's radio show "Chillin' Island" where he premiered a new song, "Tell Me," which featured Himanshu Suri, aka Heems from Das Racist. On May 26, Glover released "Black Faces", featuring Nipsey Hussle and produced by Boi-1da. On May 30, he released a third track, "Silk Pillow," featuring Beck and produced by both Glover, Jr and Beck. On June 25, he revealed that the mixtape was to be released on July 4, 2012. On June 26, Glover, Jr premiered another new track, on Sway in the Morning (on Shade 45), entitled "One Up," featuring his brother, Steve G. Lover. That same day, he stated that the mixtape would be titled Royalty despite previous statements that it would not be called that. On July 4, 2012, he released Royalty for free via digital download. On July 7, 2012, Gambino released the track, "Body," featuring Prodigy, which did not make the cut for the mixtape. On July 24, 2012, he released the music video for "Fire Fly" through his VEVO account on YouTube.
On August 21, 2012, BBC Radio 1 premiered Leona Lewis' new song, "Trouble" off her upcoming album Glassheart, which features Childish Gambino. The song was available for purchase via iTunes on October 7, and peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart the following week, making it his first UK top 10 single. On November 4, 2012 Ludwig Göransson said in an interview with Portable that he and Gambino were in his studio coming up with new ideas for the next album which was to be "bigger" and "with more people involved."
In 2013, Glover, Jr signed on to create a music-themed show for FX titled Atlanta in which he will star, write, and executive produce. Consequently, he decided to reduce his work for NBC, and only appears in the first five episodes of Community's 13-episode fifth season. Although many TV stations were interested in picking up his half-hour comedy, he ultimately picked FX due to their willingness to work around his touring schedule.
On October 6, 2013, he announced on Twitter that his second studio album was completed. He further announced this at Homecoming Week at Penn State University, stating “I got a new album coming out soon, so this is the last time we’re gonna play a lot of this shit.” On October 8, 2013, he announced its title as Because the Internet and revealed that it would be released in December 2013. On October 21, 2013, Glover, Jr released the first single "3005", and announced a release date for the album as December 10, 2013. On February 15, 2014, the rapper launched his Deep Web Tour in the UK. On February 27, Childish Gambino was scheduled to begin the United States portion of his tour with a gig at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. On June 6, 2014, RIAA certified Heartbeat Gold - making it Glover's first certification, and then on July 18, 2014, RIAA also certified 3005 Gold, making it Glover's second certification.
On October 2, 2014, he released a new mixtape titled STN MTN, and the next day he released an EP titled Kauai. The mixtape and the EP follow the story that was last told in Because The Internet and are meant to be a joint project instead of separate projects.
On October 10, 2014, Ubisoft revealed that they had collaborated with Glover, Jr to incorporate his song, "Crawl" into Far Cry 4.
On December 5, 2014 Glover, Jr was nominated for two Grammy Awards. He was a contender for Best Rap Album for Because The Internet (Glassnote Records) and Best Rap Performance for his single, “3005.”
On March 21, 2015 Glover, Jr won an mtvU Woodies Award for Best Video Woodie for the song "Sober" from the Kauai EP.
As of February 2016, Because the Internet has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping over 500,000 copies.
Glover's third album, Awaken, My Love!, spawned the single "Redbone", which peaked at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually earned him his first Grammy Award. In 2018, Glover released "This Is America", which debuted at number-one on the Hot 100, and won four Grammy Awards, including for Song and Record of the Year.[13] Glover's fourth album, 3.15.20, was released in 2020.[14]
Easy
Childish Gambino Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My shoes bright blue so you watch my step
My hoodie hot pink with the hat to match
So you ain't gotta know where my paper at
Pop tags cause I'm filthy, "Apes" can "Bathe" me
My home is the dirty but I shine like crazy
My hat tag up, and it hang off slightly
My game "8-bit" so you niggaz can "byte" me
I'm married to the game, we should consummate
Brand new hoodies the color of light sabres
My name ain't Luke, but that dude date Leias
With fly ass sneakers, bump them speakers
Pump this groove until your ears start bleedin
White girls shake it 'til the black dudes notice
Black girls shake it so you can regain focus
Swag it out, swag it out
Let's get one thing straight, I'm no average rapper
Born in So Cal, then I hit Atlanta
Then to New York, I'm an army brat
And I learned new things all across the map
In Cali I was small, taught me to be strong
And Atlanta had the hawk so I learned how to ball
New York had Starks on the New York Knicks
So when they came around I had my first round pick
And now I'm so sick that they call me ebola
Sick girls all on my pole like totem
Life is a gamble, your boy done told 'em
Play your cards right like it's Texas hold 'em
Bounce dem shoulders, go ahead Bankhead
I can do it better even though I'm Stone Mountain
Georgia's on my mind, but I live in New York
So I got a Southern drawl and I limp when I walk
They used to say a nigga lame when I started to rap
No them fake fuck niggaz askin me for a track
Pokin me on Facebook tryin to be my friend
Nigga you get your face took you ask me one mo' gen
I'm a genius, why they call the shit G-mail man
This is "MySpace" nigga, you can't make top ten
Hahaha... yo this how we do
In Childish Gambino's song Easy, he describes how he stands out from the crowd in terms of fashion and attitude with his sick style. He boasts about his bright blue shoes and hot pink hoodie with a matching cap. Gambino acknowledges that his attire is quite expensive and that he is proud of it. Even though he may come from a dirty neighborhood, his shining style is what stands out. Gambino also claims that his "8-bit" game is too powerful for people to compete against. He then compares his love for hip hop to that of a marriage and mentions his love for Star Wars by referencing the character Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. The song's refrain is a call for people to let loose and embrace their individual style, swagging it out.
In the first verse, Gambino talks about his background and how he grew up in different places, learning various life skills. In California, he learned to be strong, and Atlanta taught him how to play ball, while New York introduced him to the Knicks. Gambino has now made a name for himself in the music industry, and people call him "ebola" because of his infectious rhymes. He advises his listeners to play their cards right and not gamble with their lives. He references the different neighborhoods he lived in, including Bankhead and Stone Mountain, and how his Southern roots are still present in his accent and gait.
Overall, Easy is a song about self-confidence, individuality, and pride. Gambino encourages his listeners to embrace their unique styles and not be afraid to stand out from the crowd.
Line by Line Meaning
Sick bois don't die, they fresh to death
Cool kids don't fade away, they're always fresh and fashionable
My shoes bright blue so you watch my step
I'm flaunting my flashy blue shoes, so pay attention
My hoodie hot pink with the hat to match
I'm sporting a pink hoodie and matching hat to show off my style
So you ain't gotta know where my paper at
You don't need to know where my money comes from, just admire my lifestyle
Pop tags cause I'm filthy, 'Apes' can 'Bathe' me
I'm so rich that I don't have to worry about spending a lot of money on clothes, it's just pocket change for me
My home is the dirty but I shine like crazy
Even though I come from a rough area, I stand out because of my success and appearance
My hat tag up, and it hang off slightly
I wear my hat with the sticker still on it, and tilt it slightly to the side
My game '8-bit' so you niggaz can 'byte' me
My musical style is simplistic and old-school, so it might not appeal to everyone
Nike like me cause my life is great
I'm a successful musician and Nike endorses me because I embody their brand image
I'm married to the game, we should consummate
I'm fully committed to the rap game and it has brought me success, so I should celebrate and solidify my bond with it
Brand new hoodies the color of light sabres
I have new hoodies that are as bright and striking as lightsabers from Star Wars
My name ain't Luke, but that dude date Leias
I might not be the hero Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, but I can still attract beautiful women like Princess Leia
With fly ass sneakers, bump them speakers
I have cool sneakers and I'm playing loud music to show off my style and attract attention
Pump this groove until your ears start bleedin
Listen to this music so much that it becomes a part of you and leaves a mark on your soul
White girls shake it 'til the black dudes notice
White girls dance provocatively in hopes of getting the attention of black guys
Black girls shake it so you can regain focus
Black girls' dancing is so mesmerizing that it helps you concentrate and stay focused
Swag it out, swag it out
Embrace your own unique style and show it off with confidence
Let's get one thing straight, I'm no average rapper
I'm not just any rapper, I'm a cut above the rest
Born in So Cal, then I hit Atlanta
I was born in Southern California and later moved to Atlanta
Then to New York, I'm an army brat
After Atlanta, I moved to New York because of my family's military background
And I learned new things all across the map
Moving around so much has taught me a lot about different places and cultures
In Cali I was small, taught me to be strong
Growing up in California taught me to be resilient and tough
And Atlanta had the hawk so I learned how to ball
Living in Atlanta exposed me to the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, and I learned how to play basketball
New York had Starks on the New York Knicks
When I moved to New York, I became a fan of John Starks on the Knicks basketball team
So when they came around I had my first round pick
I knew to choose John Starks as my favorite player when the Knicks were in a draft
And now I'm so sick that they call me ebola
I'm so successful and talented that people compare me to a deadly virus, Ebola
Sick girls all on my pole like totem
Attractive women are drawn to me like they're worshiping a totem pole
Life is a gamble, your boy done told 'em
Life is unpredictable and you have to take risks to succeed, I've warned people about this before
Play your cards right like it's Texas hold 'em
Be strategic and make good choices, like in the card game Texas hold 'em
Bounce dem shoulders, go ahead Bankhead
Bounce your shoulders to the beat and show off some moves from Bankhead, a neighborhood in Atlanta known for its hip hop culture
I can do it better even though I'm Stone Mountain
I can still rep my hometown of Stone Mountain, Georgia, even though it's not known for its hip hop scene
Georgia's on my mind, but I live in New York
I still have a strong connection to Georgia even though I live in New York now
So I got a Southern drawl and I limp when I walk
My accent and way of walking (a limp) are both indicative of my Georgia roots
They used to say a nigga lame when I started to rap
People doubted my rap skills when I first started out
No them fake fuck niggaz askin me for a track
Now that I'm successful, people who didn't believe in me before are asking me for favors
Pokin me on Facebook tryin to be my friend
People who previously ignored me are now trying to connect with me on social media
Nigga you get your face took you ask me one mo' gen
Don't keep bothering me or I might get you into trouble
I'm a genius, why they call the shit G-mail man
I'm so brilliant that people are comparing me to the popular email platform Gmail
This is 'MySpace' nigga, you can't make top ten
If you're not in my circle, you're not going to get far in the rap game
Hahaha... yo this how we do
I'm having a good time and enjoying my success
Contributed by Sebastian O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
serena lee
YASSS 🙌👏 , I love new and old Gambino 😍😘
serena lee
thanks :)
Michael
serena lee lol
MickeyKnox
I feel like I'm listening to a time travelling new album drop.
Krishna9999
Big facts
Alpha Lax
What
McLight
Right
Josh
song is so fucking sick
EagleSlightlyBetter
i fucking love this album
Subhaan Ahmed
Mixtape