A Multi-Faceted Rapper’s Origin

Donald Glover, AKA Childish Gambino, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He was raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a heavily populated white suburban neighborhood and his family was the only black family in the area. His parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, which led to Glover’s fascination with the little amount of television his parents allowed him to watch. His parents were foster parents during Glover’s childhood, which led him to mature at a very young age. He was an older brother to all of the foster children, but he was still a child himself. Glover could find the balance between being childish and playful with the children, but still having the responsibilities of an older brother. 

After graduating high school as “Most likely to write for The Simpsons”, Glover attended NYU. Before graduating in 2006 with a degree in dramatic writing, he sent a potential script to NBC and they hired him as a writer on the hit comedy TV show, 30 Rock. Fellow co-writers on the TV show were comedy legends, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. He won the Writers Guild of America Award for his work on the 3rd season, which would be his last as he would depart to write and act in a feature-length film, Mystery Team. After Mystery Team, Glover was casted in NBC’s new comedy TV show, Community, and became a breakout star with his humor and overall energy. So far, his story doesn’t sound much like the typical rapper’s origin and sounds more like the birth of a comedy legend as he was one of the main writers on a hit TV show at the age of 22. 

But during his time at NBC and during the production of Mystery Team, he independently released 12 mixtapes and one EP, which caught the attention of Glassnote Records who signed him to their label. Glassnote Records only signs indie rock musicians to their label, but they saw a generational talent in Childish Gambino that they had to sign. At the time, Sony Pictures was rebooting the Spider-Man franchise, so fans urged them to cast Donald Glover as the Miles Morales version of Spiderman, who is a black and latino teenager who takes the mantle of Spider-Man after Spider-Man dies in battle. Sony Pictures did not pursue this direction for their film, but when Disney received the rights to the character, they casted Glover as Miles Morales in an animated show.

At this point he has a pretty lucrative career in music and television, so it was time to slow down, right? Wrong. Glover seems to never stop striving to fulfill his title as the most prolific creator of his generation. He went on to release three albums and two EPs and earned two platinum albums and 5 Grammy awards. Glover wrote and starred in a short film Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, along with a 72-page script for a film that connects the storyline of his first album, Camp, to his second album, Because the Internet. He released another mixtape, STN MTN (a stylization of the neighborhood he grew up in, Stone Mountain) and an EP, Kauai, which all of the profit went to advocating for body cameras for police officers. 

In 2015, Glover begins to write, direct, executive produce, and star in the critically acclaimed satirical comedy, Atlanta. Glover earned two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the show. During the production of Atlanta, Glover released his third studio album, which was a huge departure from the hip hop and rap roots of his previous two albums. “Awaken, My Love!” draws influence from psychedelic soul, funk and R&B music and the whole album is a love letter to his new-born son. And then Donald Glover releases This is America, which breaks the internet and gets critical praise for its satirical representation of the music industry along with the ridicule of the police system and exposé of the history of black suffering and incarceration. In April 2019, Glover premiered his beautiful film Guava Island at Coachella, which he co-wrote with his brother, produced and starred in; here is a clip from the film.

Along with all of these accolades, Donald Glover is a member of three of the biggest film franchises of all time. In 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming was released, which starred Donald Glover as Aaron Davis, who references having a nephew. This nephew is never shown in the film, however, in the comics, Miles Morales is his nephew, so this role was an interesting call back to the fan campaign to have him play Miles Morales back in 2010. In 2018, Glover starred in Solo: A Star Wars Story which he received critical praise for his performance of the charming and suave Lando Calrissian. In 2019, Glover voiced adult Simba in the remake of The Lion King; this role was very personal to Glover because he lost his father during the production of this film.

An Analysis of Childish Gambino

It is well known that Glover received his moniker “Childish Gambino” from a WuTang Clan rap name generator, so it would seem the name loses some of its meaning, but he still chose to use this specific name. The word “childish” embodies Glover’s energy and reflects his upbringing. He was surrounded by foster children so he gained his quick wit and energy from the constant new children he had to entertain. His first album, Camp, is entirely about his childhood and his eventual maturity by the end of the album. This is purely coincidental, but “Gambino” is an Italian word directed towards people with short legs. The retirement of the moniker “Childish Gambino” may shine light on his ultimate maturity as he might continue under a different name or focus on film and television.