It should come without question after watching our review of Childish Gambino’s Camp that we were reviewing his latest project Royalty. With Royalty, Gambino decides to take a step in a different direction enlisting features from some of hip hop’s finest. We take a listen to Gambino’s Royalty mixtape and share our thoughts on the project.
Category: WatchDEHHTag: camp, Childish Gambino, Mixtape Review, royalty
This is honestly how I feel about 80% of Royalty. The problem wasn’t in style or swagger, it was in the content. So much of what he was rapping about wasn’t just different, it just wasn’t genuine. He’s been so humble and forthright about his upbringing in previous albums and I think he could have turned that same humor and honesty to the style of this mixtape but instead he expects his fans to forget the nerdy guy we fell in love with. I’m not willing to call him a sell out yet, because I think a lot of this is just him working out. It’s what he’s been working on, it’s what we’ve been chomping at the bit for and I’m glad he didn’t keep it to himself – but I hope to see him go back, stylistically and lyrically to where he was before.
The songs I loved on Royalty were reminiscent of previous songs and I think the appeal lied there. I didn’t like that he disparaged Community on the first track – I venture to guess that most fans don’t want him to abandon TV for music so he can focus – he’s amazing because he’s multi-talented and he shouldn’t forget that. Including Tina Fey on a track was a nod to that, but he needs to realize that hoping the source of half his fans gets cancelled is not something that people want to hear. But… as much as I hated it it was one of the only honest moments I heard on the album. And including a line about white people telling him how to feel seems disingenuous too – of course he shouldn’t allow that to happen but it alienates what is frankly a large part of his core audience. I’m not telling him how to feel, but I also feel like I’m not allowed to have an opinion.
One Up wasn’t bad – I loved that it was a family affair and I would have appreciated it based on that alone. Black Faces speaks to the “hood card” thing. Shoulda Known was excellent – but it was him singing, it was a really soulful track. It’s that sort of beautiful, well-rounded sound that I liked about Camp – it reminded me of Fire Fly which is one of my favorite tracks of his.
I could skip most of the middle of his album. Danny Brown’s voice annoys the shit out of me but he’s growing on me – it was ballsy to sample Britney Spears and although I don’t necessarily adore the track, I loved the contrast – it was like a salted caramel that was just hard enough that you couldn’t enjoy it without worrying that it would pull your tooth out. There’s value there.
I love his work with Josh Osho – Wonderful reminded me of “Outside“‘s weird brother. Make It Go Right is my favorite track – he and Kilo Kish sounded amazing together and I LOVE her sound and how it mixes with hip hop – it was sensitive and melodic and it showed his good judgement. Find other good talent, use it to add jut a touch of flavor to what we love about you – don’t use half of them to do what everyone hates about middle schoolers. When you change around your friends into someone that the people who truly love you don’t recognize, it alienates people.
That’s not to say that I don’t love him for being a chameleon – he does it better than anyone. Period. But what I love about hip hop is the honesty, the creativity, the passion. I didn’t hear much of that on this mixtape, but like I said I see it as him working out. It might not be pretty or polished or necessarily indicative of his style but we’d be pissed if he did it and we didn’t get to watch. If I could see it as him discovering and fostering another part of his personality, I would be more accepting but frankly when you compare it to the rest of his work it sounds like someone else in content and not in style… and that’s what could end up alienating people which will absolutely bite him in the ass. But it’s not too late. I am still excited to see what he comes up with next.
I have to agree with FeeFo on this one. Not because I particularly think this is a great project; but because if in a vacuum with no prior knowledge of Gambino’s catalog, if this were to be compared to other projects with a similar sound it is a standout amongst the sub-genre. It is however a definite change in direction sonically, and the content more reflects excess as opposed to introspection. But he did not completely abandon his sound, it’s just not as prevalent.
what happened to the vid?