Introducing Donald Glover: the famously known alter ego of Childish Gambino. Back in April Donald Glover announced that he would be retiring as the alter ego of Childish Gambino. He stated, “It’s not fulfilling. And I just felt like I didn’t need to build this way anymore.” With Childish Gambino starting his career in 2011, signing with his first major label, ‘Glassnote Records’ and releasing “Camp” Childish Gambino began to make a big impact on hip-hop and rap. His last album was released on July 19th titled “Bando Stone and the New World”.
The Beginning of Childish Gambino
When Donald Glover graduated in 2022 he went on to attend the New York University While attending the Tisch School of Art he became a founder of a sketch comedy group by the name of ‘Derrick Comedy’ and began to take off his rap career. On June 5, 2008, at twenty-eight, Childish Gambino released his first mixtape “Sick Boi” He would then go to release ‘Poindexter’ on September 17, 2009. With this, he followed multiple mixtapes, primarily Cul De Sac on July 3, 2010. These mixtapes were not released under a label.
See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Rise of Childish Gambino
After many of his released mixtapes and albums himself he signed with Glasstone Records in 2011. With the signing he released the debut studio album, ‘camp’. His second studio album ‘because the Internet’ was then released on December 10, 2013, as well as his single ‘3005’ on October 22, 2013. For this single he was nominated for a Grammy‘ Best Rap Performance’ and another Grammy Best Rap Album for ‘Because the Internet’. With this, the rise of Childish Gambino began.
The Full Career of Childish Gambino
With the release of “Camp”, Childish Gambino went on the IAMDONALD tour. This is where he first announced the album and released the single ‘Bonfire’. With Danny Brown being featured on this tour. The IAMDONALD tour had 20 stops made in 32 days. Then came the CAMP tour, though many dates for this tour were postponed due to an injury that Donald suffered from. The tour then began in Austin, Texas on April 5th then ended on August 10th in Hollywood, California. January 11th, 2012 on his website Gambino announced a new mixtape coming soon. Much anticipation was building when he then released “Eat Your Vegetables” On April 2nd through his website. After this Gambino released “We Ain’t Them” On May 16 through his website. A few days after, May 22nd, he appeared on a radio show, ‘Chillin Island’ where he premiered a new song ‘“Tell Me” The song ‘Tell me’ featured Himanshu Suri, aka Heems from ‘Das Racist’ the radio on which ‘Chillin Island’ was under. After showing up on this radio show he would go on to release five other songs/mixtapes between May 26, 2012, to July 24, 2012. On August 21, 2012, premiered a song called “Trouble” by the artist Leona Lewis, this song featured. Not too long after this, on November 4, 2012, Ludwig Goransson (Swedish Composer) stated that he and Glover were in the studio composing new ideas for music. Goransson would also go on to state this album was “bigger’ and “with more people involved.” With his music career growing as he was touring, he began to work less for NBC, in the end, he would go to work for FX because it worked best for his schedule. On October 6, 2013, Glover announced that his second studio album was complete and ready. On October 8, 2013, he announced the title ‘Because the Internet’ and revealed the release date which was December of 2013. Two months before the release of ‘Because the Internet’ he would release the single ‘3005’. With The release of ‘3005’ he also announced the specific release date of ‘Because of the Internet’ which was, December 10, 2013. Two months after the release of ‘Because the internet’ he announced his Deep web tour. On February 27, Gambino was scheduled to begin the tour in the US at the Fox Theater in Oakland California. He would get two RIAA certifications for heartbeat and 3005. Between this time, and 2015, he would go on to release more mixtapes as well as earn awards as well as being nominated for Grammys Throughout 2016 his style of music would only increase or ‘get better’ throughout his music. “Awaken My Love” was nominated for two awards, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Album. His single ‘Redbone’ would take him home with a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance. Gambino would announce his fourth studio album which gained a lot of attention and praise. Four years later in 2024, he republished this album as “Atavista”. With this came a shuffled playlist, a brand-new mix, and new collaborations.
Daniel Benavides, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Daniel Benavides)
The Final Act
After his Republishment he announced a world concert. With this announcement, he announced his retirement. This would be his last tour. He would be retiring the childish Gambino name with one last album ‘Bando Storm and the New World’. He took an interview with the New York Times where he stated, “It’s not fulfilling and I just felt like I didn’t need to build this way anymore”. When February 15, 2025 rolls around it will conclude the final acts of Childish Gambino.
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