Maturish Gambino

Donald Glover’s voice is changing.

Childish Gambino is in his own stratosphere.

When Donald Glover started releasing music under the name Childish Gambino, a lot of people referred to him as a joke rapper.

For many, Gambino’s Freaks and Geeks served as his introduction to the world.

His lyrics were centred on clever punchlines, rapid wordplay and his patented sense of humour. “Because the Internet,” his 2013 album, hinted that he was changing, shifting gears towards new sounds and new experiences.

“Awaken, My Love!”, 2016

Three years later, Childish Gambino is set to release his follow-up album, “Awaken, My Love!” and if the first two singles are any indication, Gambino is growing up.

His voice is changing, his facial hair is jumping from moustache to full beard and back, and his frenetic, kinetic style is relaxing to a slow but smooth stroll down the sidewalk. He’s going through sonic puberty, and he’s coming out the other side smelling like roses.

The album’s first single “Me and Your Mama” sounds like the brainchild of Dan Auerbach, Robert Glasper and André 3000 in an incredible, unique way. It’s a song filled with catharsis, exaggerated by calm lilts of gentle piano playing and moments of emptiness.

Gambino screams and riffs over a booming and full soundscape: it’s not hip hop, it’s not jazz; it’s unlike anything a rapper has put out in a very long time.

But then again, Childish Gambino is unlike any rapper that’s popped up in a very long time.

His second track, “Redbone”, initially sounds a little like Eminem’s “Beautiful” beat got remixed into something… well, beautiful.

Here, Gambino croons. He crooooooooons.

Anyone paying attention could’ve told you Gambino could sing (!), but for him to come out on his first two tracks and not rap a single verse, speaks great volumes to his artistic versatility and his willingness to take risks.

He no longer feels compelled to put his words at the forefront of his music, instead letting the sounds mingle and mix into one of the most palatable R&B outputs by a rapper that I can remember.

Gambino is standing on a mountaintop and screaming “I am more than what you think I am.”

If Gambino’s first few years of musical existence were his nascent inklings of adolescence, then he is definitely now in university. He’s experimenting with himself, trying different things and seeing what works. He just discovered the philosophy section in his school library; he’s tapping into sources few artists dare tap into.

Fans of Gambino’s early music might be disappointed in his new album based on these initial offerings, but those fans probably don’t have enough respect for musical development.

Childish Gambino is no longer childish. This album will be his Bar Mitzvah.