Album Review: Childish Gambino - STN MTN/Kauai

Some haters will always hate, no matter what gold you throw at them, but Donald Glover sure silenced a multitude of them with last year's out of nowhere sophomore slinger Because the Internet. As Childish Gambino, Glover started a rap career with immediate pushback, with critics claiming that he was flexing his networking connections to start at a point he wouldn't have otherwise reached. Furthermore, claims were made that the person Glover showed off on debut LP Camp was an unbelievable character, with too many conflicting viewpoints without enough real life backstory or street cred to support them. But all that faded into the mist pretty quickly when Because the Internet dropped. Glover didn't just give fans a rap record - he gave them a full multimedia overload that showcased pretty much every artistic endeavor the man has pursued up to this point. Part album, part screenplay, part deep web choose your own adventure, Because the Internet and the supporting tour were both an experience to be had, exploring the multifaceted sense of identity that comes along with social media, video capturing and sharing, and the endless regurgitation of branding in whatever context, for some shot of rising above the rest.Last year, Childish Gambino invited us into a deeper world that any of us could have really anticipated, following up the days gone by musings of Camp with a real time identity crisis, where the actor and the rapper both went through the looking glass for a topsy turvy new take on things. But Donald Glover isn't even close to being done with this massive concept. On top of teasing a video game to go along with his last record (which, very much in the spirit of the Internet, may or may not ever actually come to fruition), a secret a cappella track was recently discovered, buried in the code of the becausetheinter.net website, followed very quickly by the announcement of a new mixtape and an EP. Part free, part paid for, part ATL god, part Hawaiian getaway, Gambino's continuation of the Because the Internet story is an intriguing one. The STN MTN (Stone Mountain) mixtape features DJ Drama throughout and bears the Gangsta Grillz name. On the other hand, the Kauai EP is beach pop through and through, with Jaden Smith featured throughout as the voice of "The Boy", a rendition of Gambino's own character from the Because the Internet screenplay. Odd? Yes. Overly complicated? Probably. But really, for fans of Gambino, there is only one question to ask: is it totally Donald Glover through and through? Absolutely.

Ok, so for those who haven't kept up on the story so far, with Because the Internet, Donald Glover introduced us to a character played by himself, aptly named "The Boy". The Boy is in his mid-20's, sitting in a permanent space of adult adolescence, with no desire to pursue the ambitious business interests of his father (a rags to riches Rick Ross lookalike), but a trust fund to back a cozy lifestyle and a group of backpacker friends who like coming along whenever possible. Over the course of his adventures on the record, The Boy questions existence, reflects on the simpler days of his childhood spent away for the summers at camp (yes, this is a connection to the first record), and looking forward into the black hole that is life under the spotlights of expectation. "Because the Internet, mistakes are forever", The Boy groans towards the end of the record - something that Glover might have been feeling himself after the scathing reviews of Camp piled in years earlier. But The Boy isn't destitute. Rather, he's searching, albeit slowly and aimlessly.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!! At the end of Because the Internet, we're not sure whether or not The Boy survived a run in with some armed drug dealers. To further the cliffhanger in the follow up, Gambino doesn't give us a sequel in STN MTN or in Kauai. Each is a side story that works in tandem with the other. Apart, the two are each interesting and fun, but together, the paint a larger picture of the world that Because the Internet operates in, and gives us a better idea of who Gambino sees himself as in the present day, after all the fame and with or without the criticism.

"I had a dream I ran Atlanta." That's how Gambino opens up the STN MTN mixtape. The tape is his first free release (via Datpiff) since 2012's ROYALTY. That tape was a feature heavy 18 track beast, with everyone from Danny Brown to Beck to Tina Fey backing a Gambino we never met on Camp. The "Royalty" tag is heard throughout STN MTN, along with an array of other tags from DJ Drama and others. In fact, the opening track "Dream" is so heavy with tags that at times it's hard to even tell what's going on with the lyrics. Producer Ludwig Goransson, who helped Glover with almost all of Because the Internet, only pops up on a handful of tracks here, delegating duties to create a more region-centric focus. The outcome is a pretty interesting mixture. ATL circa 2007 banger "Southern Hospitality" kicks into "Partna Dem", a track more reminiscent of "Freaks and Geeks" era Gambino than anything we've seen recently. Then later, "Move That Dope" pops off on a triplet meter that holds tempo with the likes of Migos, before it jumps into "Nectel Chirp", one of the best tracks on the record, seeing Glover on a gritty kick. "Candler Road" remains one of the strongest on the tape from beginning to end, mixing unique Gambino style with a ferocious front end. Through and through, STN MTN is a heavily endorsed mix of familiar and foreign, bringing Gambino to Atlanta in head turning ways.

Flip the cover art and we get Kauai, six songs and a remix from a more familiar Gambino universe than STN MTN. Where the mixtape lies in the ROYALTY parallel, Kauai gives us Gambino proper, no longer schlepping around Stockholm or filming street crimes - now he's just chilling on the beach. From the pure pop brilliance of "Sober" to the closing cool of "Late Night in Kauai", the vibes herein couldn't be more inviting. "Sober" pulls a lot of influence from Kanye's new wave classic "Paranoid", while through the other tracks we get a little bit of everything from synth pop to Beyonce. Where STN MTN ran bitches and moved dope, Kauai gives us nice guy Glover, even dubbing over himself on "Pop Thieves" to say "I know you miss this love" instead of missing something else. "Palisades" features a cool guitar production by Christian Rich while Gambino questions the reality of love and success. "Why can't it always be like this?" Gambino asks, almost as if there's a side of him that wants to relish in the "made it" mentality for as long as possible. "Poke" continues the themes of sincerity traded for comfort and sameness. On the Kauai beach, everything is in retrograde.

Meanwhile, we get these monologues by Jaden Smith, in character (or just being himself) as The Boy, giving us anecdotes from the past - the Camp era of boyhood in the Boy's story. In each of these, some semblance of profundity is made out of the most common events, like The Boy is trying to make his life out to be something bigger and more meaningful than it is. The problem is, all of this progressive action towards self betterment is done in retrospect. What's Gambino's present tense? It's a permanent vacation. Compare this to the "I had a dream I ran Atlanta" thesis statement of STN MTN and there's a pretty good "a ha" moment to be had.

Donald Glover continues to expand the Childish Gambino universe into something truly magnificent in content and in stature. What started as a Wu-Tang name generator and a handful of free LPs and EPs rapping over Sleigh Bells and Yeasayer is now a full-fledged multimedia art event. Capping off "Late Night in Kauai", Gambino's narrator sums it up pretty perfectly. "Do you really like what you like? Or do you like how they gave it to you?" Beyond the hype, beyond the fame and the connections and the money, Donald Glover offers something truly unique through his music - that's something that only a few can say in this day and age. Childish Gambino is only getting more interesting as an idea over time, and with one head scratcher mixtape and one marvelously catchy EP, he's throwing two more punches in a fight to the death. Musically, Gambino surrounds himself with a smart group of people, pushing his talent in every chameleon direction possible. And honestly, he makes pretty much all of it work pretty damn well. But underneath it all, the character that Glover has created in Gambino is one that we can all relate with. We all start with something, and through the noise and through the hardship and through the criticism and through the distraction, we all choose to do something with it. The rest is up to you.

STN MTN and Kauai are out this week. You can grab STN MTN for free on DatPiff and grab Kauai on iTunes. Keep your eyes peeled for a Kauai physical release - being that Glover dropped a great Because the Internet vinyl package on Record Store Day this year, it's not altogether impossible that we might see a Kauai release on Black Friday. The adventure continues on Childish Gambino's Soundcloud and at Donald's website.