Donald McKinley Glover, Jr (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, … Read Full Bio ↴Donald McKinley Glover, Jr (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, comedian and musician. As a recording artist, he usually performs with the stage name Childish Gambino. While a disk jockey, he performs as mcDJ. He first came to attention for his work with Derrick Comedy and with the help of Tina Fey, was hired at the age of 21 to become a writer for the NBC comedy series 30 Rock. He later played college student Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom Community. After several self-released albums and mixtapes, Glover signed to Glassnote Records in 2011 as Childish Gambino. He released Camp on Glassnote on November 15, 2011. His second studio album, Because the Internet, was released on December 10, 2013. Glover, Jr was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2015, Best Rap Album for Because the Internet and Best Rap Performance for his single "3005".

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]

The Last
Childish Gambino Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'm the last of a dying breed
Meaning that I’m not afraid to
Try a new thing can't see me
Best to get yourself some Visine
Toe tag a motherfucker
No jokes while these other
Niggas "wakka wakka"
Other rappers try and go and get over

You want that hood shit? Best
To go and call Hova
I was a good kid, backpack on my shoulder
98 test score in my ThunderCat folder
My cousin was older, my mama used to wake up
Drive me to his school 'cause
His school was much safer
But I slipped up and
Accidentally told a teacher
Now I'm going to a school
Where I get beat up
Because I ain't get down
With them other kids
Probably 'cause I talk too white and
I got a dad who's there
Mama couldn't take it
Sold the place and got us out of there
Guest room, now the six of us splitting
One with a restroom now I'm going to this
School called Rockbridge
School of the neighborhood we tryna
Buy a house in
There's not a lot of black kids
So I stick out like a sore
Thumb with some bad acne but really
What I wanna know is why I never fit in right
Like a fat dude getting on a packed flight
Even when I make friends in the hallways
I'm wishing I was someone else always
But I'm happy that that shit happened to me
'Cause it taught me most important
Is to do me 'Cause everybody hates you till
They love you
Facebook niggas same niggas that
Would shove you
'Cause nobody was jocking my style
'Cause I had a high voice
They called me faggot 8 Mile
So I stopped writing for a very long time
Thinkin' that a nigga wasn't
Made to bust rhymes
And this next part, sounds like nonsense
But I swear to God
Tina Fey gave me confidence
Taught me everything that is
Good comes from honesty
Everybody's got a voice
You just gotta follow it
She on her role model shit
From the day that I shook her hand
I knew that I'd never die a broke man
So I could try this rapping shit out again
The game need change, I'm a part of it
People tell me I should
Spit under Donald Glover
But I try to keep my real name undercover
'Cause if you hear my name
Then you think it's jokes
And I can't go for that
Nigga Hall and Oates
My nigga stay down like a winter coat
I rap about my life, not "I'm On a Boat"
'Cause this joke rap shit's
Gotten out of hand
Only ones who do it well's Lonely Island
Save the raps about your cat, I am not a fan
Leave the joke raps alone
Man I'm working here
I do not play around with this bullshit
I am different, call it new shit
Labels want me to hurry and cash my check in
But I keep my shit free
Till the last possible second
'Cause God knows that I
Don't need the money
You get your clothes free when you rich
Ain't it funny?
But this limelight burn like a muh'fuck
I wanna call my dad crying but I hang up
'Cause I don't want him to worry
He's got his own shit
So I send him a check and tell him to hold it
If anything ever happens
Want you to know this
I always took the time to smell the roses

And wherever I am, I am doing fine
I'm here for a good, not a long, time

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Childish Gambino and Azealia Banks’ "II. Earth: The Oldest Computer" are grappling with mortality and eternity. Gambino seems to be reflecting on his youth and recklessness, regretting not having the foresight to hold himself back now that the world has changed. He acknowledges his previous godlike mentality, and now realizes that that arrogance has led him to not consider his own mortality. The “A” on his chest symbolizes adultery, which is a sin that goes against the idea of living forever. He seems to be saying that everything is temporary, and he wants to live forever rather than be confined to a specific era or time. In the end, he accepts the inevitability of his mortality and wants to make the most of the little time he has left.

Banks’ verse focuses on being a survivor of the things that have gone wrong in the world. She touches on the idea of progress being the only thing that will last, and how we are all enslaved to things that we don't even know the name of. Banks contrasts Gambino’s optimism by stating that she doesn't care about the unfairness of death or the fact that at some point, we will all die. She acknowledges that even she won't survive, but once again stresses that progress is the only thing that matters.

Overall, the song seems to be a reflection on the nature of existence and a realization of our own mortality. The artists seem to be saying that the only thing that really matters in the end is living life to the fullest and progressing towards a better future.

Line by Line Meaning

See now I don't wanna see an era, an era, an era
I don't want to witness a specific era because it's hard to deal with change and uncertainty.

See now I just wanna live forever, and ever
I want to live indefinitely and not face the possibility of death and loss.

Maybe it's the last night
Perhaps this is the final night of life.

When the world was with this and that
During a time when the world was different than it is now.

I was young, didn't know to hold it back
I was naive and lacked the foresight to realize the importance of self-restraint and moderation.

Now we here and the world is something else
We've arrived at this moment, and the world has undergone significant changes since then.

We could leave any day you call for help
Our lives are fragile and can be taken away at any moment.

We were gods, nobody was above me
We felt invincible and unchallenged in our power and superiority.

That "A" on my chest like adultery
The letter A on my chest represents sin and betrayal.

That "A" on my chest, put your fist up
The letter A on my chest is a symbol of defiance and rebellion.

That "A" on my chest like a chipmunk
The letter A on my chest is small and insignificant like a chipmunk.

Alvin, Theodore
A reference to the animated cartoon, 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'.

Breathe in, breathe out, mi amor
Take a deep breath and relax, my love.

Breathe in, breathe out, nevermind
Don't worry about it; just take a deep breath and relax.

It was time, number nine, lies
It was the right moment, but the truth was obscured.

Feline with a deathwish
A cat with a desire to self-destruct.

E-vite didn't help shit
An online invitation didn't fix anything.

No name on the guest list
An unknown and unimportant person attending a party.

Hold on, we're destined
Wait a moment; we're meant to be here.

Yeah, break free from all of the insides
Let go of all constraints and internal barriers.

They godless, denied us
They lack moral principles and refused our requests or needs.

But we don't give a damn about the next day
We don't care about what happens tomorrow.

We were never here, never know if the world change
We don't exist, and we are unaware of any changes in the world.

Common sense, the consequences
Logical and rational thinking, and the impact of our actions.

Retweet the tweet then regret the mentions
Sharing a tweet on social media and then suffering the repercussions of negative feedback or comments.

We are the wireless survivors of things gone
We are the ones who remain after various things have happened or ceased to exist.

Slaves to the unnamed, never live long
We are oppressed under an unknown force, and our lives are short-lived.

Live and die by the line, never know fear
We follow a strict path and never experience fear.

Even I won't survive, is it unfair?
I don't stand a chance of surviving, is that unjust?

Cause I don't care
I don't give any importance.

When I step on that ant on the grass
Even if I crush an ant on the grass, I am still progressing.

Progress the only thing that will last
Advancement and development are the only things that will endure.

3005. The year that we fear, only God will survive
The year 3005 is full of fear, and only God will prevail.

To be alone is alive
Being alone is living.

She got that body, oh me oh my
She has an attractive physical appearance.

Send them pics to my phone, GPOY
Send pictures to my phone that represent 'Gratuitous Picture of Yourself'.