Childish Gambino (AKA Donald Glover) is a rapper. He’s a very good rapper. I like him. He’s weird, he’s goofy – he’s got personality. More importantly, he’s got bars and his content is fresh and unique.

Most recently, he went through what I can only describe as a bit of a rough patch on Twitter. He made some really interesting points, but also made some not-so-interesting ones. The main takeaway (and by all means correct me if I am wrong) — Being a white rapper is easier than being a black rapper.

Being a young white male, there are few times where I “actually know anything,” but I feel like for once in my life I might. I don’t like telling people this, but I am a white male. Even worse, I am a white rapper (sometimes.) I can tell you, without hesitation, that I am not famous, or even particularly well liked. I can only assume this is because I am not good enough, which leads me to believe there is truly only one thing that can guarantee you success and that is how good you are at what you do.

To give you a better idea of what I mean, check out his full rant here, but I’m going to break it down bit by bit.

Everything in bold is what he Tweeted.

“childish gambino is a white rapper.” i wanna be a white rapper.

I’d be very curious to know if Mr. Glover overheard someone say this or not. Obviously, there are a lot of stereotypes about what a rapper is supposed to “be like.” Here’s a pretty interesting piece on that whole subject (in my unbiased opinion.)

i wanna be so white im the biggest rapper of all time.

For the sake of the argument, let’s just assume he’s referencing Eminem. Outside of Dylan, Eminem is one of the greatest rappers of all time.

To even hint at a correlation between the success as a rapper and the color of their skin is an insult to the genre as a whole. Being white does not bring you any leverage in the hip-hop realm. If anything, it forces you to prove that you belong in the genre. You can be extremely mediocre, be white, and nobody will care about you. TRUST ME.

To assume someone’s ability is dependent on their race is…well…racist. You racist Donny?

i wanna be so white i can have a number one song with cursing and parents are fine with it.

When I released my first EP, I had a song that my mom did not like. Particularly, this line:
“She a jump off, call her hop-scotch / so I blow in her mouth like some pop rocks.”

You remember how sometimes your mom would say “you should be ashamed of yourself” and you’d brush it off because she wasn’t being serious or the matter was trivial? But then there were those really rare instances when she said it and actually meant it?
No kid (no matter how angry) wants to disappoint his or her parents. Unfortunately it happens to white rappers too. Whether it’s cursing, or explicit sexual references, my whiteness has unfortunately not protected me from a swath of legitimate judgments from my parents.

i wanna be so white and so big i get eat dinner with the Koch brothers.

I had to Google the Koch brothers. To be honest they seem like dicks.

i hope I’m so big and white i can go to clippers games and it not be a statement.

Tell that to Donald Sterling.

i hope I’m so white they let my friend out of jail sooner.

I’m also going to assume we’re moving away from music for awhile. I’m cool with that, I can hang.

In terms of getting out of jail sooner, access to a great lawyer would be my best bet.

Racism is definitely an issue in this country, but Classism is far worse of one. And it needs to be addressed. I think if it was, you’d see that people aren’t really that racist.

i hope I’m so big and white my cousin wasn’t shot and stabbed twice in the neck twice last month.

The United States seems to just revere violence. We seem to be built upon it’s existence. Can we, as a society, survive without conflict? I don’t know.

Do white cousins get shot and stabbed? I think it’s safe to assume they do. I’d find it weird to meet someone who thought otherwise.

i wanna be so big. so white.

So did Mr. Poppin’ Fresh. Look at him now!!

i wanna be so big and and so white that white dads feel comfortable sending their daughters, who are home for the summer from Stanford, to my show.

If I had a daughter, I imagine I would be very protective of her. I would not feel comfortable with her listening to hip-hop at a young-ish age. College -> yes, I would have to let this imaginary daughter go.

I’m not saying this is fair, but Donlad Glover is a part of a genre that has a lot of shitty role models. I know it’s tough, but it’s not about him, it’s about his genre. Hell, it’s beyond that. It’s about being an artist. No father would trust his daughter with an artist. Artists, more often than not, make for awful role models.

Ask yourself, “As a parent, would I like my daughter listening to this?” If you can say yes, chances are other parents will too and they just need an opportunity to listen to your music. Keep in mind that people make judgements for reasons far beyond race.

and after the performance they come hang with me on my bus and we smoke and then we fuck to young dro and she holds my face in her hands and her eyes roll back in her head. then she goes home and her dad says “how was the show?” and she says “it was fun. they had lasers.”

That’s fucked up man. That’s my imaginary daughter you’re talking about.

i hope i become so big and and so white that G-Eazy will say “damn, this nigga is white” and everyone will agree and nod.

I am intrigued by this reference of G-Eazy – did he say the “Childish Gambino is white” comment? I’m starting to have a revelation here. What if this is all about someone describing Childish Gambino as white to someone else? What if his frustrations rest on the notion that there is this huge difference between a “white rapper” and a “black rapper?”

There’s no reason that Childish Gambino should need to be explained to anyone as anything other than a good rapper. That is what he is. A good rapper.

When someone says “hey, black rappers are like X, but you’re like Y, which reminds me of a white rapper, so you’re a white rapper,” That’s racist. G-Eazy, did you say that shit? If you did, I’m coming for you.

i want to be so big and white that people are scared. “what if this spreads? What if everyone starts to get big and white? what if this works for everyone and everyone can experience this whiteness and this bigness?”

The concept of racism is so embedded in our culture that I’m not even scratching the surface of some of the underlying issues, However, I do wish people would realize that this is NOT the majority voice of this country. At all. The majority of people in this country do not suffer from racism, but rather a lack of conversation. The key to any successful relationship is communication. Unfortunately, these types of conversations tend to be one-way. Open it up a bit!!

i hope i become too big and too white. but i am just a black male.

Being a black male is cool man. I’m a white male, and it’s fine, but I assure you it’s not that cool. I’m actually quite lame. Don’t aspire to be a white male, aspire to be successful. What, you wanna be like Kevin Federline? You wanna be like Riff Raff? Cause they’re both white males, rappers even! I’m sure you can be like them. Is that what you want?

I wish people cared less about “what” they were and more about who they would like to be.

At the end of the day, I’m not trying to comment on how difficult certain lifestyles are. I just wish people put less emphasis on things that don’t matter. It might be difficult to believe, but I can assure you that the only thing people care about in this world is how good you are at what you do. They just care about results. That’s it.

Donald Glover is an extremely successful man. I think that’s why I get so upset when I see him saying things that do not speak to his success. The color of his skin isn’t what made him liked or disliked, successful or unsuccessful. His hard work is responsible for that. His personality is responsible for that – his charisma and charm. Society did not make him (well, we’re not going to get into that,) but he made himself. He actualized his worth. He needs to take responsibility for it and he should be proud to do so. I could only DREAM of being as successful as he is. And I’m all too white.

i am a nigga.

Again, Riff Raff is still open. Wide open.