Black Music Month: Childish Gambino - Camp

"I just wanna fit in, but nobody was helping me out, they talking hood shit and I ain't know what that was about, cause hood shit and black shit is super different"

Donald Glover is a man of many talents. Writer, actor, comedian and rapper and it always seems like he's good at whichever one he chooses to pursue. Despite Pitchfork giving it 1.6 out of 10 Camp proved everyone wrong. Childish Gambino wasn't just another character Donald was playing. Gambino was Donald and Donald was Gambino. What we got is an album filled with personal reflections on relationships, fame, poverty, wealth, race and alienation that connected with a lot of people on a lot of levels.

Camp is an album produced entirely by Donald and continues the style of his previous production with only one sample from Streets of Rage 2 on this album. It's an album filled with hard hitting base, soul claps, pianos and synths backed by a chorus on multiple tracks. Admittedly Gambino's flow is childish and over the top but it helps display the surrealness of everything covered on this album. Some view it as a weakness and reason not to take him serious when it's the opposite. He's able to create meaningful lyrics, making him The Boondocks of rap.

The album opens with "Outside," which describes a new world if we can step outside of stereotypes. When Gambino talks about his parents in the opening verse he states "all their friends in NY deal crack, it's weird, you think that they'd be proud of them but when you leave the hood they think that you look down on them." That alienation is real and it's not a new trend. When you leave the hood to do something else with your life people turn their backs on you. They'll tell you how you've changed even if nothing has changed. Even if it's something simple like going off to college when your friends don't have that opportunity they often turn their backs on you. "The truth is we still struggle on a different plane," because we do. Simply because someone moved to a new place or a new phase in life doesn't mean they're looking down on you when it's not true. Kanye West famously stated "cause ain't no tuition for having no ambition, and ain't no loans for sittin' your ass at home, so we forced to sell crack, rap, and get a job." We're still going to struggle, it's not like we got swept away from the hood like Cinderella.

When talking to his cousin Gambino states "the world saying what you are because you’re young and black, don’t believe them." That's nothing but a fact, every time we turn on the news there's someone else telling us what black people are. Bill O'Reilly thinks we're all violent rappers. This is the same guy who was surprised nobody was fighting when he went to a soul food restaurant. This is the same man who ended an interview abruptly by yelling when asked how many black friends he had. Yet he's somehow qualified to tell us as young black people who we are. Just the other Donald Trump stated black youths have never done so poorly and we lack spirit. These are the things they say about us. We live in a generation where more black men and especially black women are graduating than ever before, but we don't have spirit. These people don't know anything about black people, yet they keep trying to tell us who we are. We shouldn't even listen to them. "Hood shit and black shit is super different," is another key part of the song. Somewhere along the line people became confused about what black culture is. Using proper English does not make you any less black. Selling drugs does not make you black, maybe hood, but not black. They aren't the same thing and if we step outside of the stereotypes we can be so much more.

The song "Fire Fly," goes on to address some more issues of alienation in the black community. "I used to get called oreo and faggot," is a line that jumps out. For those of you don't know an oreo is a black kid who is white on the inside. Basically a kid who doesn't fit the hood standard so there blackness is constantly questioned. An oreo may attend a magnet school, prefer video games to basketball, trading card games instead of just hanging out on the block etc. Being an oreo is something I can guarantee every member of Blerds Online has been called at some point. Another big issues is dating black women for black nerds. "The pretty girls using skin so soft, only be likin' black dudes with their hats broke off, nigga you act too soft." It's not all about confidence there are black women who will turn away black men who don't fit stereotypes. Eventually this fades away but when you're young it's self-esteem killer. Just like Gambino in the song you start blaming yourself for not being that hood guy they're all into. Dating in general can be hard for young black nerds because you're too "white" for the black girls and too black for the white girls.

He goes on to swear "these black kids want something new, I swear it, something they wanna say but couldn't cause they embarrassed." It may not be apparent to everyone but young black people are shifting away from the stereotypes. There's still a lot of people who think you need to be hood to be black but there's a growing number of blerds, black nerds, and it can't be denied. There probably isn't a larger number, just a larger number who are coming out and admitting it. That's most likely because the internet has made it easier for us to connect. Sometimes growing up it seems like it's either just you or you and a few other black nerds. Now you can log on to twitter or facebook and find millions just like you, so you realize it's okay to be black nerd. The line "this rap stuff is magic," is something he expands on in the next track "Bonfire."

"They say they want the realness, rap about my real life," just to prove that being real doesn't mean being hood. He goes on to mention how they hate him for this but "rap's stepfather, yeah, you hate me but you will respect." Gambino may not be what people want to hear but rap needs him and has to respect him because he's good and he's shining light on a subject most won't touch, blerd life. "Shoutout to my blerds, they represent the realness," because we do. We don't have to lie to keep our street cred because the levels are so low, they can't diminish anymore. Blerds are just being blerds, and it's too late for us to pretend to be anything else when we're already branded. He continues to play with this in his letter to fame on the track "All The Shine," by opening the song with "what the fuck do y’all niggas really want, I went with realness instead, but all the real niggas I know either crazy or dead." This isn't Gambino saying he's not a "real nigga," in fact he's the realist nigga in the room. He's rejecting the idea of what people see as real as he later shows by asking "what’s the point of rap if you can’t be yourself, huh," and stating "I ain’t the coolest but I know I got passion, I got passion!" Being real isn't about being hood, crazy doing jail time or any of that other stuff. Being real is like being based in the sense that the meaning gets twisted when in reality both are about being yourself. Being true to who you are and being passionate about whatever you do makes you real.

"Backpackers," has Gambino addressing everyone who questions his blackness. Part of introducing himself includes "nerdy-ass black kid, whatever man I'm sick of him, hat well-spoken token, who ain't been heard, the only white rapper who's allowed to say the N-word." Demonstrating that even at this point his career people were sick of Gambino already. Self proclaimed "armchair hipsters," at Pitchfork constantly questioning his realness. Rolling Stones magazines called him a lightweight Kanye West and others stated he was just copying Drake. Other rappers where throwing disses at him like Wiz Khalifa and A$ap Rocky all the while people calling him white. Here is embracing who he is and being the only white rapper allowed to say the N-word, but not really, you shouldn't question his blackness. "Black male in short shorts, I'm double suspect," because people think he's suspect as in possibly gay, but he's a black male so he automatically fits the description so he's a suspect to the police. He goes through everything other black men do so why question his blackness. "Fuck the cool kids, not Chuck Inglish, but people who think that hating on me makes them distinguished," because Gambino does get a lot of hate. Sometimes it seems like the only people who like Gambino are black nerds, Asians and white women. Everyone else gets a morale boost and applause for hating on Gambino with no actual knowledge of his music.

"Like, "What is this nigga doin? Rap is for real blacks, I hate that fucking faggot, man, he think that we feel that"," because people continue to question his blackness because they have black culture confused with what hood culture is. It just isn't the same and even if you are from the hood it doesn't make you blacker than anyone else. Every black person is not from the hood and every person from the hood is not a hood nigga. Andre 3000 said it best "ain't a hood nigga but a nigga from the hood, see momma stayed on me so I turned out pretty good." Gambino already told us early in the album that his parents moved out the hood so their children can have a better life. That doesn't make him less black. He continues in the second verse:

"Man these niggas hate me "Man, fuck you nigga...fuck you nigga!" They real black like won't show up on your camera phone, hey real black like turn the flash on your camera on, they real black take shit, turn it into gold, I'm real black I survive when the pressure on."

Here we are with Gambino stating two things black people are known for. Making the best of a bad situation. Nas stated an example in the form of "slave food turned to soul food," slaves took the scraps, the parts of the animal and plant the masters wouldn't eat and that food survived centuries and is now known as soul food. That's turning shit into gold, especially when we're talking chitlins. Gambino is black because like other black people he survives under pressure. He doesn't crack under pressure, not even from other black people who keep calling out. Gambino is a nerd but he's black and you can't take that away from him. You can't simplify being black to being hood because that's just ridiculous. "Old niggas wanna assassinate me," because he doesn't fit their thinking of what it means to be black. They want Gambino out because he doesn't fit the narrative but their narrative is wrong and outdated. "It's a shame, these kids was supposed to save rap," because Gambino is in the class of rappers that are supposed to save the genre. Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J. Cole and Childish Gambino, but everyone keeps trying to keep guys like Gambino and Chance The Rapper out of the picture because they don't fit what a rapper is supposed to be to most. It's a shame because rap will never be saved as long as people are ignored for going against the grain.

Gambino's struggles with being black don't just end there, he continues on the track "Hold You Down." He tells a story of being made fun of for being lame so he stole a jacket from lost and found to fit in, but it only lasted so long. Things like this weighed heavy on his brain and he starts to question if he's really black. People can see it as simple teasing but it takes a toll on you if you hear you aren't black every day. You feel ostracized from your own people, especially if there are no other black nerds around. Dope boy swag is in, it's always in and Gambino like everyone else wanted it "dope boy swag, I always wanted that, but my persona was always more of that Arthur Ashe." The only problem is that just wasn't him. He was more like Arthur Ashe the black tennis player known for breaking color barriers and participating in the Civil Rights movement. Because of that he didn't get any love from those around him. He was simply too "white," to be accepted by them and things weren't any better at school:

"I'm trippin' off the other day, cause God knows what these white kids say and do, dude you're not not racist cause The Wire's in your Netflix queue, subtle racism, it's hard to pin it cause you'd only understand, if you were me for just a minute, his one kid said something that was really bad, he said I wasn't really black because I had a dad, I think that's kinda sad, mostly cause a lot of black kids think they should agree with that."

The idea of subtle racism is something a lot of white people just don't get. It goes beyond not calling black people "Niggers," or telling us "you're one of the good ones."  Subtle racism isn't something you subconsciously do either. You think it's okay because you like The Wire, as Gambino uses in this example. A more recent example would be white people who feel they aren't racist because they really really like To Pimp A Butterfly. Another example is the white kid who feels that he's such an expert on black people that he can tell Gambino he isn't black because he has a dad. The statistic junkies will probably say something like "70% of black children are born out of wedlock," that doesn't mean black dads aren't part of their children's lives. It means black people don't really care about marriage. "What about the dads who don't live with their kids," well according to the New York Times report black dads who don't live with their kids are actually the best at making time for them. You can twist statistics all day to point black people in a negative light, that doesn't make it true.

Having a white person tell you that you aren't black or that they're blacker than you is a moment that simultaneously fills you with a sadness and rage that most people just won't understand until they've walked in your shoes. You may think it's a joke, but it hurts, to the point that we want to hurt you. Another big part of the song is "change everything that we've done so far, I don't mean makin' B.E.T. T.E.R, I mean just the way that we see each other." Gambino doesn't have a problem with BET, the problem is how we see each other. We think we're supposed to be some kind of stereotype but that isn't true. If you want to sum the song up it'd be this:

"But niggas got me feelin' I ain't black enough to go to church, culture shock at barber shops cause I ain't hood enough, we all look the same to the cops, ain't that good enough, the black experience is black and serious, cause being black, my experience, is no one hearing us"

Why should we let stereotypes drive us apart? We're all black to the police and politicians. We're all subject to the same treatment and disrespect at the hands of authority. Why should we try to separate real black from black. I'm not talking Rachel Dolezal, I'm talking the idea of saying someone isn't black because they don't fit your stereotype. Why are we even stereotyping ourselves? Why are we trying to hold each other down? That's stupid.

The track "You See Me," reminds people that they're going to see Gambino wherever they go. They're going to see him on TV shows, in music videos, and in movies. He also reminds them that no matter what anyone says he's still going to be black. Just because he doesn't fit your deffiniton of what it means to be real black or a real nigga doesn't mean he isn't. In fact he's "Realest motherfucker in the game like Tron, nigga." He goes on to ask some more questions of black people "can we hear the N-word one day and not get upset?" It's no secret that the older generation of black people do not like the word nigga at all. The NAACP famously held a funeral for the word. Oprah loves to talk about how it disgusts her that rappers use it and people who preach respectability politics like Bill Cosby, Ben Carson and Don Lemon love to complain about it's usage. The next question can be the moral of this album "can we try something new and not be suspect?" Not just be suspected of gay, but be suspected of not being black. Can we just be ourselves without being questioned? Especially by other black people.

On the track "Sunrise," Gambino states "to my black nerds this is church," because Camp is church to a lot of black nerds. Gambino is spitting the gospel about how nobody can take our black cards. When you're a teenage black nerd things can get rough and Gambino is saving them by showing them the light. It does get better for black nerds if they can just get through that rough part. The album is "somethin' for these black kids to call they own, so when you skatin' in your driveway, you not alone." Alienation is a common thing for young black nerds, especially when young. The internet has made things easier but it wasn't always like that. This is the album to remind them that they're no different than anyone else. It's the gospel for them, church.

On the last track "That Power," he proudly states his blackness and how real he is because he's himself and not just trying to fit in. "Niggas missed it, too busy, they lyin' 'bout penitentiary," because if you're lying to keep street cred up you're missing out on life. Rappers lie a lot to sell records and Gambino doesn't have to do that, he's real. He's not lying about being some kind of drug lord when he was a corrections officer, he's not lying about being gangster when he was a ballet dancer. He continues to state that being black isn't hood, it's a shared condition and treatment. He points out people would call him oreo, but he was still black so they were still racist "loving white dudes who call me white and then try to hate, when I wasn’t white enough to use your pool when I was 8." It's stupid to make fun of black nerds for being too white when they get the same racist treatment. Sadly, that'll keep happening and it's hurts because but we just have to remember "it's oreos, twinkies, coconuts, delicious," in other words you're still awesome. In the end Gambino realizes that he can be nerdy and nobody can take his blackness away and he achieves everything he wants because "I am what I am: everything I wanna be."

Camp is a depressing album and everyone won't connect. There's stuff everyone needs to hear like ending stereotypes, but it's for the black kids who don't fit in. The album is for the kids who are outcast by both groups. They're left alone by the white kids because believe it or not, racism starts early. Yet, they can't run to the comfort of other black people because they've been cast aside for not being black enough. This is the album to remind them they can be whatever they want. They don't need to be a stereotype to be black and they can do whatever they want. Gambino is telling them things get better. Sure every black nerd won't be Gambino but he's letting them know that they do eventually fall in love and experience everything they could have missed out on. If nobody else gets any thing from the album, so be it. This one was for the blerds.

Feel free to follow along with our Black Music Month Series

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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