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]
Retro
Childish Gambino Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yeah, it go boom, boom, boom
Yeah, uh-huh, ah
Ohh, no, no, no
Yeah, okay
We can go together
It doesn't really matter
We can do it if we try
You know that I love you
Put no one else above you
We can get there
We can do it if we try
Young Bino in the house like a B&E
Why I'm looking so fly? I'm just being me
Moved up, weed in my girl clutch
White girl so the twelve never really searched
Smoke cars, swear to God she need a bigger purse
Royalty, I'm the boss, we ain't gotta work
Laid out on the island, she Hawaiian
Wonder if she let me slide in
The OG making noise like a firetruck
Flew in, touched down then we light 'em up
I've been saying that the clique, there's a lot of us
They talk shit but nobody else on top of us
Got popular, this the real shit
Get- in the face with a full clip
Get- in the aim, niggas don't slip
Then get- with the case just for sellin' it
I know them gorillas, I hang with them killers
They paint 'em as villains when really they livin'
We gotta ball
This is World War Three, I'm the new Jay-Z
I ain't write shit down, I'ma steal that crown
I'ma do that thing, girl, you sweeter than mango
How we cool and confident with hair like Django?
How we walk in the room and the girls they notice?
'Cause they know you bogus, I'm the man you noticed and
We can go together
Doesn't really matter
We can get there
We can do it if we try
You know that I love you
Put no one else above you
We can get there
We can do it if we try
I'ma show you how to do this
It's easy when you let go, let go
Didn't mean to make you nervous
The booty lookin' retro, retro
You can be the moon to me
And I can be your spotlight (spotlight)
And if you think I'm ballin'
You shoulda seen me last night, last night
Fuck that, fuck y'all and the po-po's
Down under, surfin' on the Gold Coast
I'm looking for the truth in a blunt
And I ain't got a home, let's stunt
So, baby, if you feel like you wanna leave
I ain't afraid to drop a couple SkyMiles
The game ain't easy
We both deserve a little bit of timeout
We can go together
It doesn't really matter
Oh
Yeah, uh, said, yeah
'Kay, one, two, three, go, yeah
Go, go, go, go (oh)
Go, go, go, go (oh, yeah)
Go, go, go, go
Go, go, go, go (ooh)
Go, go, go, go (uh)
Go, go, go, go (oh, ayy, ohh)
Go, go, go, go (one more time)
Go, go, go, go
The song "Retro" by Childish Gambino features lyrics that convey a sense of confidence and fearlessness in the face of opposition. Gambino describes his lifestyle and mentality, proclaiming himself as the new Jay-Z and indicating that he will steal the crown without having to write anything down. The lyrics also depict Gambino's relationship with a woman: he proclaims his love for her and states that she is the only one he puts above himself. He describes their lifestyle and leisure activities on an island and implies a sense of rebellion against the law enforcement by saying "Fuck that, fuck y'all and the po-po's". Gambino refers to himself and his girl as ballers and encourages her to let go and have a good time with him. The song ends on a hopeful note, with Gambino stating that he and his girl can get through anything as long as they are together.
Overall, "Retro" is about a couple who are living their life the way they want to and not caring about what anyone else thinks or says about them. The song's message is about the importance of having confidence in oneself and in one's relationship, and not being afraid to take risks and push boundaries. The lyrics also convey a sense of optimism and hope for the future, despite the obstacles that might arise.
Line by Line Meaning
Uh, uh
Introductory sounds.
Yeah, it go boom, boom, boom
The beat is explosive.
Ohh, no, no, no
Interjection, as if something unexpected happened.
We can go together
We don't have to go alone.
It doesn't really matter
The details won't be a problem.
We can get there
Our destination is achievable.
We can do it if we try
With effort and determination, we can succeed.
You know that I love you
You are special to me.
Put no one else above you
You are my priority.
Young Bino in the house like a B&E
Childish Gambino introduces himself as if breaking and entering his own party.
Why I'm looking so fly? I'm just being me
I'm confident in my own style.
Moved up, weed in my girl clutch
I've progressed in life, and my girlfriend holds onto our stash.
White girl so the twelve never really searched
My girlfriend is white, and the police don't search us thoroughly because of it.
Smoke cars, swear to God she need a bigger purse
We smoke a lot, and my girlfriend needs a bigger purse to carry everything.
Royalty, I'm the boss, we ain't gotta work
We're in charge, and we don't have to work for anyone else.
Laid out on the island, she Hawaiian
We're relaxing on a Hawaiian island, with my girlfriend being from Hawaii.
Wonder if she let me slide in
I'm wondering if my girlfriend wants to have sex with me.
The OG making noise like a firetruck
Someone important is causing a commotion.
Flew in, touched down then we light 'em up
We arrived and made an impact.
I've been saying that the clique, there's a lot of us
I've been talking about our group, which is large.
They talk shit but nobody else on top of us
People criticize us, but no one is better than us.
Got popular, this the real shit
We gained popularity, and this is the actual situation.
Get- in the face with a full clip
We were faced with the harsh reality.
Get- in the aim, niggas don't slip
We were targeted and didn't make any mistakes.
Then get- with the case just for sellin' it
We may have been arrested for simply selling drugs.
I know them gorillas, I hang with them killers
I know dangerous people, and I'm friends with murderers.
They paint 'em as villains when really they livin'
Society portrays them as bad people, but they have reasons for their actions.
We gotta ball
We need to succeed.
This is World War Three, I'm the new Jay-Z
This is a serious battle, and I'm the Jay-Z of this era.
I ain't write shit down, I'ma steal that crown
I didn't write anything down, but I'll still become successful.
I'ma do that thing, girl, you sweeter than mango
I'll accomplish my goals, while also complimenting my girlfriend's sweetness.
How we cool and confident with hair like Django?
How are we able to be calm and confident with hair like Django, a character known for his strength and resilience?
How we walk in the room and the girls they notice?
How do we grab the attention of women in a room?
'Cause they know you bogus, I'm the man you noticed and
The women noticed my girlfriend, but she chose me instead.
I'ma show you how to do this
I'll teach you how to succeed.
It's easy when you let go, let go
It's easier when you stop holding yourself back.
Didn't mean to make you nervous
Sorry for making you anxious.
The booty lookin' retro, retro
Your butt looks old-fashioned but still attractive.
You can be the moon to me
You can be my companion and guide, like the moon.
And I can be your spotlight (spotlight)
I can bring attention to your positive qualities.
And if you think I'm ballin'
If you think I'm doing well or living luxuriously.
You shoulda seen me last night, last night
You would be impressed by what I did last night.
Fuck that, fuck y'all and the po-po's
I don't care about any of you or the police.
Down under, surfin' on the Gold Coast
I'm in Australia, enjoying the Gold Coast and surfing.
I'm looking for the truth in a blunt
I'm searching for clarity while smoking marijuana.
And I ain't got a home, let's stunt
I'm homeless, but let's party and show off.
So, baby, if you feel like you wanna leave
If you want to end our relationship.
I ain't afraid to drop a couple SkyMiles
I'll use my frequent flyer miles to travel if necessary.
The game ain't easy
The world is tough.
We both deserve a little bit of timeout
We both need some relaxation.
Yeah, uh, said, yeah
More sounds indicating a transition or return to a previous point.
'Kay, one, two, three, go, yeah
Let's keep going with enthusiasm.
Go, go, go, go (oh)
Encouragement to keep moving forward with excitement and energy.
Go, go, go, go (oh, yeah)
Excitement and motivation to succeed.
Go, go, go, go
The beat continues to push listeners to keep going.
Go, go, go, go (ooh)
Influence to keep moving with energy and rhythm.
Go, go, go, go (uh)
Motivation to succeed while being true to oneself.
Go, go, go, go (oh, ayy, ohh)
Energetic encouragement to succeed with excitement and rhythm.
Go, go, go, go (one more time)
One final reminder to keep pushing forward with determination and vigor.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Donald Mckinley Glover II
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Vishwanath Ji
on This Is America
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