Last night, Gold Standard Hip Hop Show hosts El Blanco Nine and White Lightning (me) packed up and hit the road to Nashville to see rapper/comedian/life connoisseur Childish Gambino. Childish, known by some as Troy from Community, and others as stand-up comedian and writer for 30 Rock Donald Glover, and others still as that dude in Bro-Rape, raps with an intensity equal to Wu-Tang and as sexual as Prince. His rhymes are intricate and getting better with every release, his beats are original (using samples from the likes of Grizzly Bear, Adele, and Sleigh Bells), and his vocal talent is starting to be a bigger part of the music he makes. While he is a bit new the The Rock, he is a favorite of GSHH's head honchos.
After rocking out to R. Kelly, Fred Durst, and Outkast on the ride up, we pulled into the Cannery Ballroom, grabbed our passes, and waited for Childish to start up while his opener, DJ SiiK, threw down some nice tracks featuring samples of 90's classics and current hits. When the lights went down and the words "SIGN UP. FOR. CAMP" (Camp being the name of Childish's third album (but his label debut), the crowd went wild and Gambino opened up with a killer rendition of "Hero" off of his second LP, Culdesac. Following up Childish ran through hits like "Freaks and Geeks", "I Be On That", and "Let Me Dope You". Halfway through the set, Gambino and his talented live band led the audience in the jamie xx remix of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" before ripping into his verse nearly twice as fast as the recording. Throughout the night Childish ran through his verses at lightning speed, showcasing his quick skills especially in the new track "UCLA". "I'm on my Polynesian everyday. Asian girls everywhere; UCLA" rang through while he spit three solid verses with moments as quick as Busta Rhymes. Childish also ran through a sick version of the single off Camp, "Bonfire", afterwards admitting that it was the first time he had run through the whole thing live. Gambino wrapped up his regular set about 12 songs in and came out for a freestyle encore over his track "F**k it All". The whole show was a blast, and Childish Gambino rocked the house.
After the show, me and El Blanco headed backstage where we got to meet the man himself. He was a really nice guy, despite sounding like he was about to collapse, and we will be doing an interview for the show sometime this week. Stay tuned to Gold Standard for more info on this. In the mean time, sit back and enjoy this video of Childish in LA. The concert was a blast. We'll be talking about it on the show this week, so stay tuned Sunday Night from 10-12 for more on his set. White out.
No comments:
Post a Comment