Childish Gambino - Because The Internet Mixtape (Achmone's Review)

Childish Gambino formally known as Donald Glover appears to shed his Hollywood image with the debut of his second released studio album Because The Internet. I'm fresh off of the record and overall I have a mixed reaction. Usually if I don't favor an album entirely on the first run through (like Kanye West's Yeezus album) I'd give it another listen before giving my review. However, on Gambino's latest record I found myself forcing my ears to listen to the very end. The album starts with a solid record assisted by some distorted sounds and heavy percussion on the track 'Crawl' then the album begins to jump around into different styles. The following song "Worldstar" samples audio clips from the popular vlog site of the same name, which is infamous for offering its viewers user uploaded fights recorded on smartphones in the form of entertainment, that includes a heavy 808 assisted beat, but then fades out to the sounds of a trumpet. Although the album has some really good songs like, "Pink Toes ft. Jhene Aiko" & "Life: the Biggest Troll", it also has too many songs featuring Childish Gambino's unpleasant singing voice and lacks synchronization throughout the album. In other words

Though it is apparent that Childish Gambino is growing as an artist and exploring various genres. I would not recommend that he try all of those various styles in one LP. Although the production value of this album was not great throughout it does have it's moments like on the "Crawl" record previously mentions (plus Childish produced most of the album so he has to get some credit for that).

Overall, Because the Internet picks up where R.O.Y.A.L.T.Y. left off, but mid-way through flat-lines. To put it plan, Gambino tried a little too hard to make a piece of art rather than a cohesive piece of good music. I still respect the man for trying and I do believe that he is becoming his own artist but he's just not there yet. Gambino is still looking for his sound. All in all good second effort, but not good enough for heavy rotation.

Subject Matter: 2
Lyrics: 2
Flow: 4
Production: 2

Overall: 2.5/5 Mics. They can't all be winners.

-Achmone