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]
I'm Alright
Childish Gambino Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All my fans love me
Dad is proud of me
Momma cries for me
Cause she know there ain't sleep in my schedule
Having nightmares that I'm the black Heath Ledger
Sleep when I'm dead
These voices in my head
And my friends come and ask me if it's worth it
I tell them that it better be, I did this shit on purpose
The worst is being worthless
Now a nigga priceless
Bloomingdales coat, I don't have to check the prices
But I only go to feel a sense of control
Cause I get this shit for free if I wear promotional
And I'm not emotional
When I do my work
I get emotional when I order that dessert
Cause she always ate dessert
And I deserted her
But I refuse to compromise career for a girl
Cause this music and this writing and this acting is my soul
And if I let it go, there'd be no one left to know
Being happy is the goal, but greatness is my vision
And all these girls are thinking they compete with my ambition
But baby I am different
This shit is my life
And if you don't believe me, you can never be wife
I'm walking in this darkness and I'm tryna find a light
And I'd rather die than be average and chances are I might, because
Things are changing, my life ??????
Thirteen cities in the last eight weekends
All I know is baby I'm so tired
Record on Monday,
Tape on Tuesday,
I ain't slowing down I don't care what you say
Fuck this health thing, Momma I'm alright
In "I'm Alright," Childish Gambino tells a story of the struggles of success and ambition. The opening lines show his satisfaction with having the exact life he wanted, with fans loving him and family proud of him. However, it becomes apparent that this perfect life comes at a cost. With no sleep in his schedule and nightmares of being the black Heath Ledger, Gambino is driven by a need for greatness. He wakes up at 4 am just to write, often ignoring his own health and emotional needs. He is aware that he risks coming off as emotionless when it comes to work, but he is aware of where his true passion lies - writing, acting, and music.
Although Gambino acknowledges the importance of being happy, he emphasizes his thirst for greatness and ambition. To him, it is the ultimate goal, and he cannot compromise it for anyone, not even for love. He feels that no girl can compete with his drive and ambition. He is willing to walk in darkness, as long as he finds his light at the end of the tunnel. He claims his music, writing, and acting are his soul, and he refuses to let them go. He concludes by saying that he is willing to die rather than living an average life, showing his relentless pursuit of greatness and his willingness to sacrifice his own well-being to achieve it.
Line by Line Meaning
This is exactly what I wanted
I'm happy with the way things are going for me right now
All my fans love me
I have a lot of people who support and appreciate me
Dad is proud of me
My father is pleased with my accomplishments
Momma cries for me
Cause she know there ain't sleep in my schedule
My mother is worried about me and knows that I'm always busy and don't have time to rest
Having nightmares that I'm the black Heath Ledger
Sleep when I'm dead
I'm constantly working and have a fear of burning out like Heath Ledger did, so I don't prioritize sleep
These voices in my head
Got me waking up at 4 just so I can write instead
I have a lot of creative ideas that keep me up at night and make me wake up early to work on them
And my friends come and ask me if it's worth it
I tell them that it better be, I did this shit on purpose
My friends question whether all this hard work is worth it, but I reassure them that I chose this path intentionally
The worst is being worthless
Now a nigga priceless
I used to feel worthless, but now that I'm successful, I feel like I'm invaluable
Bloomingdales coat, I don't have to check the prices
But I only go to feel a sense of control
Cause I get this shit for free if I wear promotional
I don't have to worry about the cost of expensive things like coats, but I still go to stores like Bloomingdales to feel like I have control over my life. I also get free stuff if I wear it for promotional purposes
And I'm not emotional
When I do my work
I get emotional when I order that dessert
Cause she always ate dessert
And I deserted her
I don't get emotional when I'm working, but I do when I think about how my ex-girlfriend loved dessert and how I left her
But I refuse to compromise career for a girl
Cause this music and this writing and this acting is my soul
And if I let it go, there'd be no one left to know
I won't put my career on hold for a relationship because music, writing, and acting are an integral part of who I am. If I stopped doing them, there wouldn't be much left of me for people to know
Being happy is the goal, but greatness is my vision
And all these girls are thinking they compete with my ambition
But baby I am different
This shit is my life
And if you don't believe me, you can never be wife
While I aim to be happy, my ultimate goal is greatness. Some girls try to compete with my ambition, but they don't understand that music, writing, and acting are my life. If they can't accept that, they can't be my partner
I'm walking in this darkness and I'm tryna find a light
And I'd rather die than be average and chances are I might, because
I feel lost and am searching for direction, but I'd rather die than settle for a mediocre life, even though it's possible that's all I'll achieve
Things are changing, my life ??????
Thirteen cities in the last eight weekends
All I know is baby I'm so tired
Record on Monday,
Tape on Tuesday,
I ain't slowing down I don't care what you say
My life is rapidly changing and I've been traveling to 13 cities in 8 weekends. I'm exhausted, but I still have work to do recording and taping on weekdays and I won't be slowing down despite others' opinions
Fuck this health thing, Momma I'm alright
I don't care about my health as much as I care about my work and success, and I want my mother to know that I'm still okay despite that
Contributed by Scarlett L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@alexanderl8794
This will never not be a banger
@jesusloveskobe
Man I miss being 12 bro
@Michael-wm8pw
k0berich damn bro don't get me depressed
@nickmerle2060
Times change
@MrNotaComedian
12?!!!!!
@diegobustos8001
Same bro
@jumpshotjerry110
Classic 🔥🔥🔥
@jumpshotjerry110
MIDDLE SCHOOL VIBES
@animaIpath
Jerry Carrillo man i thought i was the only one. i literally found Gambino 6th grade year. ill never forget it. scrolling Charter On Demand at my grandma's and i seen "Childish Gambino - Bonfire". instantly i was like "weird ass name and i like bonfires, lemme click". he has been in my top 5 ever since
@BONETHUG5
Good lyrics