Childish Gambino

10 Takeaways From Donald Glover’s Interview With Himself

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Image via Getty/Lionel Hahn

  • He models his career after Willy Wonka

  • Donald’s not interested in “cancel culture,” recorded a feature that may be “too controversial” to release

  • Glover has thoughts on Dr. Umar Johnson’s comment about relationship with mother of his child

  • He addressed Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s exit from ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ series

  • He knows why people connect with Joe Rogan and Dave Chappelle

  • Childish Gambino’s ‘Camp’ hasn’t led to regrets despite the critical response

  • Donald likes ‘Dave’ but doesn’t appreciate comparisons to ‘Atlanta’

  • Glover enjoys ‘Euphoria,’ jokes Zendaya should “leave Sam [Levinson] to come to Death Row”

  • His biggest fear is losing his mother

  • The ‘Atlanta’ creator still believes ‘The Sopranos’ is only show as good as his

Donald Glover Explains How He Would Make ‘Dave’ More Like ‘Atlanta’

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donald glover atlanta dave
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Donald Glover’s show Atlanta gets compared to Lil Dicky’s show Dave a lot. Presumably, it’s because they were both created by rappers who also star in them and because they share a network, FX. Even this very website sorta compared them in a feature about how they depict the weird corners of the rap game in a way that hasn’t been seen before in mainstream media. Glover has said in the past that he doesn’t much like those comparisons, but that didn’t stop him from making one himself in a new interview.

Intriguingly enough, he had all the leeway in the world not to answer the question — or even ask it — since the conversation took place in Interview magazine with Donald interviewing himself. But maybe it’s just been on his mind. He winds up explaining what his (ahem) beef is with Dicky’s show, and how he believes it could be a more honest, “organic” depiction of Dicky’s experience in the rap game — basically, by making it more like Atlanta.

In some recent tweets of yours you reference Dave.

Yeah.

Do you dislike that show?

No! I like that show. But it does bother me when Atlanta’s compared to it.

Why?

You have to think of it like food.

You mean it’s a different flavor.

No. Although I do feel like the flavor is artificial in some sense. The organic show should be about a white rapper who’s more successful than his Black peers from the jump. Because he’s more accessible. But what he actually wants is to be part of the culture, but his success keeps him from that and a lot of his Black peers and friends resent him for it but also feel like they have to fuck with him because it’s good for them. That’s the internal struggle I see. Anyway.

That’s the Donald version of Dave.

Yeah. It’s sadder. What are you gonna do?

Donald goes on to clarify that he doesn’t technically think that Dave should be his version of the show, aptly comparing the two shows to different foods. He also admits that he “can be a snob” but disagrees with assessments that he’s “pretentious.” “Anthony Bourdain wasn’t pretentious,” he says. “But he definitely knew the difference between a dry-aged wagyu and a smash burger. Neither is better or worse than the other. They’re just different experiences. And I wouldn’t want to have either every day.”

Donald Glover Discusses The Possibility Of New Childish Gambino Music On ‘Kimmel’

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Donald Glover has kept busy with Atlanta and various other acting endeavors in recent years, and all the while, Childish Gambino fans have been wanting more new music. Glover’s latest album was 2020’s 3.15.20 and now he tells Jimmy Kimmel he’s been working on new music since then.

Towards the end of the conversation, Kimmel asked Glover if he was working on a new Childish Gambino album. After pausing for applause, Glover replied, “Uh, no,” before quickly indicating he was joking. He continued, “I’m making a lot of music. I really love doing it. I’ve made a bunch of it. It’s just really about how to experience it at this point.”

Glover didn’t specifically say he was making music to be released under the Childish Gambino name, which is noteworthy given his recent history: He suggested on multiple occasions he would be retiring the moniker but has since indicated he may not be finished with Childish Gambino after all.

Meanwhile, he also noted that his process of making music has changed since becoming a father, saying:

“It used to just flow, but now I have kids. Nothing flows anymore. […] Nothing’s as easy as it used to be. So I do block off time now because I’m like, ‘Oh, I want to be here for them at this time, and I want to make sure I see his game, and I want to make…’ So that takes a lot of scheduling. But I have this kind of farm, I call it, where it’s like an art farm, where I just like… when I go there, then I get to be as ADD as I want.”

Watch the full interview above.

Latto Prays For Her Enemies As She Elevates On ‘Sunshine’ With Lil Wayne And Childish Gambino

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This past week has been an eventful one for Latto in both good and bad ways. She was able to build anticipation for her second album 777 which was led by a pair of singles: “Big Energy” and “Wheelie.” However, in an attempt to shed some light on her struggles as a female rap star, she brought an overflow of attention to herself. Latto revealed that there was a male artist on the album that made it “difficult to clear” a guest verse because she did not respond to their Instagram DM. She later expressed her regrets about making the reveal due to the drama it caused, but that’s behind her now.

At long last, 777 is here for us to enjoy. The project comes with features from some rap peers in close proximity to Latto’s class like Lil Durk, 21 Savage, Nardo Wick, and Kodak Black. However, there’s also a song that features appearances from two big-time names: Lil Wayne and Childish Gambino. They appear on “Sunshine” and it’s a warm record produced by Bongo ByTheWay that finds the trio taking a moment to send prayers to their enemies as they continue to elevate and defeat the odds.

While the song adds to Lil Wayne’s long list of guest verses over the last couple of years, it’s the first musical contribution we’ve heard from Childish Gambino, better known as Donald Glover, since he released his fourth album 3.15.20 back in 2020.

You can listen to “Sunshine” in the video above.

777 is out now via 3/25. You can stream it here.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.