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]
Pound Cake
Childish Gambino Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let 'em speak, I know I'm meek but the mils louder
Watch the throne, kings kill when the prince feels power
It's the real deal, Holyfield, holy shit, holy grail
Silver spoon coon, young buffoon, yeah, they know me well
I'm makin' moves, couldn't lose, doin' Parker Lewis
Hot on my own, self-immolate, I could be a Buddhist
Hot on my own, check your tone, check your stance homie
So nerdy but the flow wordy
Brain-freezin' with the flow slurpie
Ice cold but you know I burn cash like I had herpes
Not true, but I'm that dirty
Niggas quit bein' hot man, cold turkey
While I'm out in Kauai, man, soul searchin'
And these niggas be afraid and I'm so certain
Cause they don't know what to do when the world's broken
A lot of people try and go and talk shit but your girl stops me on the street
Like it's stop and frisk and a bunch of ddots wanna talk a lot of shit
But that's cool cause in the real world they really don't exist
It's all because the internet
Chance made millions, Haim made millions
Dan made millions, Kendrick made millions
I would too if I wasn't in my feelings
[Interlude]
You know, cause like, people say money's not everything
But money, you need money to do what you wanna do
Like money is power, honesty is power, truth is power
But at the same time they tell you like
[Verse 2:]
Ain't nothin' more important than the mula
You ain't really eatin' man, you gotta get your food up
We so steady eatin' baby, you already know that
The way I'm droppin' new shit, I'm sittin' on the toilet
Every night I tour that, moment
But we don't take pictures, when you're rich you just see it again
The only thing they really worry about is me and the pen
Wrote some shit on Instagram, I'm just bein' honest
They tried to give your boy pills like I'm bein' violent
They tried to give your boy pills just to keep him silent
Keep tellin' people the truth, you could be iconic
They tried to give your boy pills, like "he's scarin' us"
Try to stay inside, I don't really like appearances
I try to stay inside, but they still got something to say
"Are you still on the show? Are you dating Jhenй?"
It's deeper than that
Calico inside the handbag, I'm keepin' the cat
I got some niggas in reserve like I'm deep in Iraq
And I'm deep in the rap, and it's deeper than rap
This is deeper than rap
In the first verse of Childish Gambino's "Pound Cake," he speaks about his success and how he’s making moves while keeping a low profile. He explains that he is perceived as a nerd, but his flow is strong, and he burns money as if he had herpes. The second part of the verse is directed at those who try to bring him down, stating that they don't exist in the real world, and he is not affected by their remarks because he is out there soul searching in Kauai.
In verse two, he speaks about the importance of money and how it is necessary to do what you want and elevate yourself. He talks about the pills people tried to give him to keep him silent because he speaks the truth, and he could be iconic. Gambino ends with a metaphor, stating that his talent and success go beyond rap.
Overall, "Pound Cake" seems to be Gambino's powerful response to those who try to avoid his success and his impact on the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Let 'em speak, I know I'm meek but the mils louder
Even though I'm quiet, I have money and that speaks for itself
Watch the throne, kings kill when the prince feels power
People in power feel threatened by those who are rising up to challenge their authority
It's the real deal, Holyfield, holy shit, holy grail
This is the genuine article, a big deal, just like a heavyweight boxing match or a holy relic
Silver spoon coon, young buffoon, yeah, they know me well
People stereotype me as a privileged, immature black man
I'm makin' moves, couldn't lose, doin' Parker Lewis
I'm successful and unstoppable, like the character Parker Lewis
Hot on my own, self-immolate, I could be a Buddhist
I'm doing well on my own, but I'm so passionate that I could set myself on fire, like a monk protesting in Vietnam
Hot on my own, check your tone, check your stance homie
I'm doing great alone, so watch how you talk to me
You don't even like me, you just trynna get my fans homie
You're not actually my friend, you're just trying to use me to get famous
So nerdy but the flow wordy
I might seem like a geek, but my rhymes are complex and impressive
Brain-freezin' with the flow slurpie
My rhymes are so cold and refreshing, like a slurpee
Ice cold but you know I burn cash like I had herpes
Although I'm cool under pressure, I'm not frugal with my money
Not true, but I'm that dirty
I might not really have herpes, but I'm still a little bit unethical
Niggas quit bein' hot man, cold turkey
Other rappers should stop trying so hard and just give up
While I'm out in Kauai, man, soul searchin'
I'm taking a break in Hawaii to reflect on my life
And these niggas be afraid and I'm so certain
Other rappers are intimidated by me for good reason
Cause they don't know what to do when the world's broken
Other rappers are lost and don't know how to respond to a chaotic world
A lot of people try and go and talk shit but your girl stops me on the street
I get hate from others, but women still admire me
Like it's stop and frisk and a bunch of ddots wanna talk a lot of shit
People harass and try to intimidate me, even though they know nothing about me
But that's cool cause in the real world they really don't exist
I don't worry about my haters because they're not actually relevant in my life
Chance made millions, Haim made millions
Other successful artists have also made a lot of money
Dan made millions, Kendrick made millions
Examples of other successful musicians who have also made a lot of money
I would too if I wasn't in my feelings
I could have also made a lot of money if I didn't let my emotions get in the way
Ain't nothin' more important than the mula
Money is the most important thing in life
You ain't really eatin' man, you gotta get your food up
If you're not financially successful, you need to work harder
We so steady eatin' baby, you already know that
I'm very successful and everyone already knows it
The way I'm droppin' new shit, I'm sittin' on the toilet
I'm so productive that I even write new songs while sitting on the toilet
Every night I tour that, moment
I constantly relive my past success
But we don't take pictures, when you're rich you just see it again
When you're wealthy, you don't need to take pictures because you can just buy more experiences
The only thing they really worry about is me and the pen
Other people in the industry are afraid of how talented I am
Wrote some shit on Instagram, I'm just bein' honest
I shared my true feelings on Instagram
They tried to give your boy pills like I'm bein' violent
People tried to medicate me because they thought I was being aggressive
They tried to give your boy pills just to keep him silent
Others have tried to control me with medication to suppress my voice
Keep tellin' people the truth, you could be iconic
If you stay true to your values and don't compromise, you can be truly great
They tried to give your boy pills, like "he's scarin' us"
Others try to use paranoid tactics to control me and keep me down
Try to stay inside, I don't really like appearances
I try to avoid unnecessary public appearances
I try to stay inside, but they still got something to say
Even if I try to stay out of the spotlight, people still find ways to criticize me
"Are you still on the show? Are you dating Jhenй?"
People constantly ask me personal questions that are none of their business
It's deeper than that
My lifestyle and career are more complex than what the public sees and judges
Calico inside the handbag, I'm keepin' the cat
Despite my success, I still carry protection and remain cautious
I got some niggas in reserve like I'm deep in Iraq
I have backup plans and support like a military operation in a warzone
And I'm deep in the rap, and it's deeper than rap
I'm fully invested in my music and my identity as a rapper goes beyond my music alone
Contributed by Tyler E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@itsmanjobruh
[Verse 1]
Let 'em speak, I know I'm meek but the mills louder
Watch the throne, kings kill when the prince feels power
It's the real deal, Holyfield, holy shit, holy grail
Silver spoon coon, young buffoon, yeah, they know me well
I'm makin' moves, couldn't lose, doin' Parker Lewis
Hot on my own, self-immolate, I could be a Buddhist
Hot on my own, check your tone, check your stance homie
You don't even like me, you just tryna get my fans homie
So nerdy but the flow wordy
Brain-freezin' with the flow slurpie
Ice cold but you know I burn cash like I had herpes
Not true, but I'm that dirty
Niggas quit bein' hot man, cold turkey
While I'm out in Kauai, man, soul searchin'
And these niggas be afraid and I'm so certain
'Cause they don't know what to do when the world's broken
A lot of people try and go and talk shit but your girl stops me on the street
Like it's stop and frisk and a bunch of DDots wanna talk a lot of shit
But that's cool 'cause in the real world they really don't exist
It's all because the internet
Chance made millions, Haim made millions
Dan made millions, Kendrick made millions
I would too if I wasn't in my feelings
[Interlude]
You know, 'cause like, people say money's not everything
But money, you need money to do what you wanna do
Like money is power, honesty is power, truth is power
But at the same time they tell you like
[Verse 2]
Ain't nothin' more important than the mula
You ain't really eatin' boy, you gotta get your food up
We so steady eatin' baby, you already know that
The way I'm droppin' new shit, I'm sittin' on the toilet
Every night I tour that, moment
But we don't take pictures, when you're rich you just see it again
The only thing they really worry about is me and the pen
Wrote some shit on Instagram, I'm just bein' honest
They tried to give your boy pills like I'm bein' violent
They tried to give your boy pills just to keep him silent
Keep tellin' people the truth, you could be iconic
They tried to give your boy pills, like "he's scarin' us"
Try to stay inside, I don't really like appearances
I try to stay inside, but they still got something to say
"Are you still on the show? Are you dating Jhené?"
It's deeper than that
Calico inside the handbag, I'm keepin' the cat
I got some niggas in reserve like I'm deep in Iraq
And I'm deepening rap, and it's deeper than rap
This is deeper than rap
[Outro]
Yo, let the beat play until the cake part comes in
I like that part, I like that part a lot
Cash rules everything around me
Yeah, I like this
Cake, cake, cake, cake, birthday cake
Black and white, yo that's a zebra cake
Pancakes, wedding cakes
That's all I wanted
@ciansmith5010
My guy was rapping and turn it into a conversation then turned it back into a rap that’s some real talent there 😂😂
@AXEJAYB
cian smith called having lines pre written, not a real freestyle
@0xGlobe
Roasted Toast A freestyle can be written tho...
@c.a.g.e.
@@AXEJAYB i still like gambino and think he's talented but agreed sounded pretty goddamn scripted
@brentloy131
For real man and he did it so smoothly
@turbochicken22
Cage Cage they aren’t really hiding that it’s written, most people just understand that. There are two types of freestyles, 1 where you come up with the lines as you go and 1 where you write the lines out, but you don’t really care about structure. It is free of style (hence freestyle) and that is what allows you to do whatever you want like transition into a conversation mid freestyle.
@brandonwells4081
Who's still watching this in 3005??
@thewackoswami1068
meeeeeeee watching this in the morning
@CarlM96
I'm watching it in 2005 what
@vinny978
ayyyyy