Childish Gambino - Because the Internet (2013)
When this came out in 2013, I was studying at a Job Corps facility and it fucking SUCKED. Tons of terrible shit happened there. One of the nicest students in the entire dorm got the living shit beaten out of him by two high-ranking students in the dorm via a sack of pillows and soap, they recorded it, news got out about it and our RA decided to just kick out the nice student because kicking out two high-ranking students was too much work. Fucking pieces of shit. Anyhow, this album is firmly cemented in the year 2013, not due to the time that most of us experienced it, but because of everything he talks about on this album, from Vine, to memes, to the internet in general, plus the internet was still getting used to this "what is the DEEP WEB?" shit and the fact that his tour was named after it, and he dropped a surprise script onto a mysterious website, it just blew us all the fuck away. We didn't even know what to do! What is this INTERNET shit?! I just use it to look up pictures of boobies!! This album is just fully cemented into a year, and I think that was part of the point behind the album, to be like a time capsule of what ridiculous shit we were entertained by in that year, a lot of which continues on into the current year of writing (2017) so this album is still relevant, but y'know what I mean, don't ya? Ya look smart, matey.
Divided into separate acts, there are portions of this album that are just incredible. I think it's amazing how "II. Worldstar" has such a bassy beat and then leads into a smooth jazz section to bring you back to earth, and the three song stretch of "III. Telegraph Ave. ("Oakland" by Lloyd)" (which has one of my favorite song concepts ever), "IV. Shadows" (AKA the song the girl you used to go to church with is most likely to quote for a Facebook status), and the smash-hit "V. 3005" which has some GORGEOUS instrumentation, this album really does have a lot to offer. You have Childish Gambino's lyricism at its best, switching fluidly from clever lines, abstract lines, and even deep/mature lines effortlessly, and his singing is fucking gorgeous, such as in the depressingly beautiful "I. Flight of the Navigator" which has haunted my dreams on occasion, Childish Gambino brings everything you could want from him and does it in such a way that it can't disappoint previous fans of his work. He comes across as an incredibly genuine guy that uses the internet to cope with his depression, be it sharing ironic memes, getting lost in his feelings while going through a girl's Facebook profile, or just sitting alone in his room, being fully absorbed in whatever the screen of blue light has to bring him. Even more than on "Camp", he's a relatable person on this album because nothing is too minsiscule for him to rap about. I mean, he fucking raps about splashing wet water on his face while in the bathroom after failing to get an erection with this girl in his garage, trying to get the confidence to go back in. If that doesn't remind you of your awkward teenage years, then you're probably like me and never left your house during your teenage years, in which case, don't worry, there's still a shitload on this album to relate to.
The production is trippy but never quite finds itself into Quasimoto territory, but that's probably for the best. As much as Childish Gambino is an enjoyable rapper on this album, the production helps it shine. There are several moments on this album, such as in "II. Shadows" where he allows the production to ride out and expand as an actual musical movement as opposed to just being the backing drop for whatever nerdy insecure shit he has to say. The production is pretty deep and vast, allowing for bassy hip-hop to blare in the whip, smooth R&B to chill out to, and generally great atmospheres to allow yourself to descend into while you're high as a fucking kite. There's quite a few levels to the production on this album, not in a way like "yeah, you can hear it a hundred times and hear something new each time", but in a very respectable level of depth that hides several hidden details, or even multiple things going off at once that become even more enjoyable once you pay attention to them. This is very much a "man, I'm fuckin' tired and music sounds great" nighttime album as it is an album to set on high volume levels in your car, and I think that's fuckin' fantastic.
I like this album a lot, I feel like it had a lot of potential and reached it, with no moments on it feeling like "why the fuck did he include this song", especially since every song on here seems to fit in so well with the others without coming even slightly close to sounding like the same track, which is great, because sometimes people like to call an album "cohesive" when all of the songs sound the same. However, as much as I like this album, it's probably not a classic by any means, but damn, it certainly is an experience, at least compared to most mainstream hip-hop albums. If you're a fan of Childish Gambino at all, then in the age that he raps that we live in, you have no excuse not to check out this album somehow, via streaming or whatever else shit THEM GODDAMN MILLENIALS have discovered. Some great songs, some "this is pretty good" songs, but it all comes together to almost an hour of time you surely won't regret, especially if you hold any memories of 2013 whatsoever, positive or negative, because this is your time capsule to show your children what an incredibly awkward year it was in pop-culture. When they say "but mama/papa, what about the gorilla that got shot?" just alert them that the meme is deader than the gorilla's fucking corpse and to stop hanging around rich people with yachts, unless they're blaring this album, in which case ya might as fuckin' well. Free champagne AND "Because the Internet"? Well, if you insist..
8/10
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