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 Gรถransson 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 Gรถransson 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 โI got a new album coming out soon, so this is the last time weโre gonna play a lot of this shit.โ 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, โ3005.โ
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]
Stand Tall
Childish Gambino Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Since the evening, colors flash before my eyes
I feel like a child, so young and new in '92, I listen
To what my father said
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
There is a voice inside us all
When you can
How this used to feel so far and free
Now these broken souls are all I see
Fists have fallen to our side
We may cry alone, I feel we know where all of this is headed
But my mama said
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall (oh I, nah, nah, nah)
If you are strong you cannot fall (if you are strong)
There is a voice inside us all
So smile when you can
When you can
If you cannot, oh!
There is more to you and me
There is more than they can see
I'm on your side
Woo, oh!
There is more out there
And somebody cares 'bout you
I do
Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
There is more out there
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Oh!
Give me morning, oh-oh-oh
When you're gone to yourself
Oh, oh!
Woo!
Yeah!
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
Thanks for doing that
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
The beginning of the song brings a sense of hopelessness with the opening lines, โWhen the sun is rising over streets so barren,โ possibly referring to an area that has been neglected and abandoned. The next couple of lines suggest that the singer is reflecting on the past, and although it feels like a lifetime ago, they remember the hope and optimism they felt in '92. The lyrics then lead into the main theme of the song, a message of encouragement, imparted by both the singer's mother and father โ to keep standing tall and holding onto dreams.
The chorus emphasizes the importance of inner strength and positivity, with the lyrics, โIf you are strong you cannot fall. There is a voice inside us all. So smile when you can, when you can.โ It is a reminder of the power of perseverance and resilience when dealing with adversity. The bridge echoes the same message, saying that even if things may feel bleak, there is still more out there, and that someone, in this case, the singer, cares about you.
Overall, the song Stand Tall is about hope, perseverance, and resilience in the face of adversity. It is a reminder to keep standing tall, to believe in yourself, and to hold onto your dreams, no matter what.
Line by Line Meaning
When the sun is rising over streets so barren
As the sun rises over the empty streets, I reflect on my life with colors flashing before my eyes.
Since the evening, colors flash before my eyes
I have been reminiscing over my life and significant moments, and memories have been flashing before my eyes.
I feel like a child, so young and new in '92, I listen to what my father said
I feel like a young, innocent child as I listen to what my father told me back in the day.
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
My father's advice was to keep my dreams alive and stand confidently in my beliefs.
If you are strong you cannot fall
My father's follow-up advice was that if I believe strongly and am resolute in my convictions, I cannot fail.
There is a voice inside us all
My father taught me that we all have an inner voice that speaks to us individually.
So smile when you can
In life, it's essential to smile and find happiness whenever possible.
When you can
The key to being happy is to try and find happiness any and every chance you can.
How this used to feel so far and free
I was once free to follow my dreams without worry or restriction.
Now these broken souls are all I see
As I look around, I see people who are broken; their situations have damaged them, and they've lost the inspiring spirit that I recall.
Fists have fallen to our side
We've given up to the point where our fists hang limply by our sides.
We may cry alone, I feel we know where all of this is headed
We sometimes cry in solitude, and it seems like we know our future's bleak and where society is heading.
But my mama said
My mother taught me a valuable life lesson that I still hold dear.
(Oh I, nah, nah, nah)
If you cannot, oh!
If you cannot keep your head held high, your dreams alive, and move forward positively,
There is more to you and me
remember there is more to life than just these fleeting moments of despair or disillusionment.
There is more than they can see
There is more to life than what meets the eye, and we shouldn't give up when things are tough.
I'm on your side
I'm always here for you and have your back, no matter what happens.
Woo, oh!
There is more out there
There is so much more out there if we are willing to look for it.
And somebody cares 'bout you
Remember there is someone out there who genuinely cares and wants to help you through difficult times.
I do
I am one of those people who care and are willing to support you through challenging times.
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
Thanks for doing that
Thank you for being you and following your dreams, no matter what obstacles come your way.
Lyrics ยฉ Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Donald Mckinley Ii Glover, Ludwig Emil Tomas Goransson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Noodles5ive
When the sun is rising over streets so barren
Since the evening, colors flash before my eyes
I feel like a child, so young and new in '92, I listen
To what my father said
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
There is a voice inside us all
So smile when you can
When you can
How this used to feel so far and free
Now these broken souls are all I see
Fists have fallen to our side
We may cry alone, I feel we know where all of this is headed
But my mama said
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall (oh I, nah, nah, nah)
If you are strong you cannot fall (if you are strong)
There is a voice inside us all
So smile when you can
When you can
If you cannot, oh!
There is more to you and me
There is more than they can see
I'm on your side
Woo, oh!
There is more out there
And somebody cares 'bout you
I do
Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
There is more out there
Keep on your dreams, keep on standing tall
If you are strong you cannot fall
Give me morning
When you're gone to yourself
Woo!
Yeah!
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
If you are strong you cannot fall)
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
Thanks for doing that
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall)
(If you are strong you cannot fall)
@courtneygardner6334
Verse 1]
When the sun is rising over streets so barren
Since the evening, colors flash before my eyes
I feel like a child, so young and new in '92
I listened to what my father said
[Chorus]
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
There is a voice inside us all
So smile when you can, when you can
[Verse 2]
How this used to feel so far and free
Now these broken souls are all I see
Fists have fallen to our side
We may cry alone, I feel we know where all of this is headed
But my mama said
[Chorus]
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
Oh I, nah, nah, nah
If you are strong, you cannot fall
If you are strong, oh no
There is a voice inside us all
So smile when you can, when you can
[Verse 3]
If you cannot, oh!
There is more to you and me
There is more than they can see
I'm on your side, woo, oh
There is more out there
And somebody cares 'bout you
I do
[Interlude]
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
There is more out there
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
[Outro]
Oh!
Give me a moment, oh, oh, oh
When they're gone, keep to yourself
Oh, oh, woo, oh, ooh, yeah!
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
Oh! Oh!
Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall
(Thanks for doing that, thank you)
Oh! Oh!
(Keep on your dreams, keep standing tall
If you are strong, you cannot fall)
Ooh! Oh!
@AntoineBandele
The craziest thought ... what will these music videos look like?
@gambeano
Antoine Bandele if his rap videos are trippy these will be crazier lol
@aidanplastation3
Antoine Bandele Seriously.
@ramenfuccboi2905
Edwin Hernandez yeah man, im still tripped out from his sweatpants video
@gambeano
Ramen The Fucc Boi sober was pretty wild too lol
@icelestine178
Antoine Bandele some pnd type shit
@SomewhatSaneLife
It's not the Gambino we expected but it's the Gambino we needed
@akincright3691
lmao
@brycecrispy
You're not wrong
@ethanmaynard6118
Say it again.