Childish Gambino / words by Susannah G. Maund
Hellow France 24 Jan 2012 La Maroquinerie, Paris
Childish Gambino, né Donald Glover, is everything you expect. He looks young and unassuming in a white tee and skinny jeans. He is not wearing a single accessory, gold or otherwise. This plainness serves as a uniform to adopt all the personalities that come out of him onstage–each one filled La Maroquinerie’s basement last night as he performed songs from his latest album “Camp” with his four-person band.
Among Glover’s characters there was: a self-deprecating first-timer in Paris, a ladykilling asshole, a brokenhearted ex-lover, a whole suite of name-calling haters, and flashes of he who must be Donald Glover himself. One minute you’re falling in love with his smooth singing voice, and the next he’s cringing as he rhymes about pussy. He is breathless and earnest, weaving back and forth in full conversations with himself, leapfrogging on and off of amps to leer down at the crowd. His eyes are peeled open, wide and white, and his head twitches behind the mic as each character possesses him.
“Is there room in the game for a lame that rhymes, who wears short shorts and tells jokes sometimes?” he asks during “All the Shine.” Yeah, apparently there is. He knows he’s different from other rappers; his fame is recent but his talent is real. Kicking off his first European tour in Paris was a good choice. French and American fans hung onto his every word, laughing and screaming out for him to do “Freaks and Geeks” a second time à la the Watch the Throne tour–and he laughingly indulged them–after asking permission to freestyle, accompanied by his violinist of course.
say HELLOW to great music, it’s Friday!
