'til 3005

 "I really can do anything" Donald Glover joked in his monologue for Saturday Night Live. But he really CAN do anything. The Hollywood star is probably more well known by his alias and musical persona as Childish Gambino, but his talents reach far beyond just his musical genius.

Glover was raised a Jehovah's witness in Stone Mountain, Georgia and is the eldest of three. Stone Mountain, at the time, was a predominantly white suburb. Donald described his home as at times chaotic because it was always bustling with kids; his family served as a foster family for 14 years. In high school, he became involved in musicals and plays. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Dramatic Writing (1). His unique upbringing will come to play a significant role in his choice of storytelling across all the medias he indulges in.

To try to understand Glover's creative process, it is necessary to start at the beginning and examine each medium that he has experimented with. While still attending NYU, Donald Glover was discovered by Tina Fey, who landed him a job on 30 Rock as a writer. He even made a few appearances on the camera-side of the show as well.
“He was literally still living in the NYU dorms,” Fey said. “And that was a great resource for us. We would turn to him and ask, ‘What would a young person say here?’” (1)
 After 3 seasons of 30 Rock, Donald Glover starred NBC's Community as Troy Barnes. During this time, Glover also was doing stand-up comedy, titled Weirdo (2012) (available on Netflix). Around this time, Donald Glover's alter-ego was also starting to blow up. Childish Gambino dropped his album, Camp, in 2011- his first major record label. (His single Bonfire from this album has over 42 million views today).

Soon after in 2013, Gambino released Because the Internet, including major singles 3005 and Sweatpants, each with over 168 million and 131 million views today respectively. Because the Internet showcases Gambino's realization of the contemporary world with technology and opportunity in conflict with internal struggle for self-truth. Childish Gambino distinguished himself from other artists in incorporating philosophical ideas, rather than rapping about day-to-day struggles. He also recognizes his role in the performance world, rapping lyrics such as "I used to care what people thought, but now I care more" (3005, Because the Internet). Curiously, Gambino is aware of role as a performer to supply a demand from his fans and that his growth is dependent on the reaction of his audience. It's as if he took this Psychology of Creativity class...

Gambino's music continues to mature as seen in his next album, Awaken, My Love! (2016). He fuses psychedelic soul, funk, and R&B to produce an unworldly sound. He also flaunts his falsetto talents in Redbone. Redbone received three Grammy Award Nominations and won Best Traditional R&B performance (2). In this album, Gambino continues to explore the psychological world of being human and being oppressed.

Perhaps his grandest statement was in his single This is America (2018) where Gambino dives into the injustice and severity of gun violence in America- especially regions of the United States that are predominantly black, as presented in his music video. The video opens with a provocative scene with Gambino striking a pose and aiming a gun at a bag-headed victim in a chair. However, Glover's  philosophies and political conversations do not stay restricted to his music.

Since This is America and his Summer Pack, Childish Gambino has relatively been inactive in the music department. In recent years, he has been involved in other projects including playing Lando Calrissian in SOLO from the Star Wars franchise and voicing Simba in Disney's live-action remake of the Lion King. A less talked-about endeavor of his is Atlanta, a comedy-drama TV series in which he is a writer, executive producer, director, and actor.

"When I really dive into an acting role, I lose myself. And onstage, I black out -- I know it's a good show when I don't remember it. I feel like that's the closest you can be to ­whatever you want to call God."

Atlanta portrays two cousins trying to make it in the rap industry. Glover dissects what it means to be an African American in white America and the realities and hardships in family, friendships, ambition, parenthood, and so on. In creating Atlanta, Glover combines his life experiences along with fiction in order to present a masterpiece that leaves you thinking and scratching your head.

But how does he do ALL of this? Why?
"Once for spring break I went to St. Petersburg [Fla.], which is wack, but I wanted to be around old people. (Laughs.) And there's a Salvador Dali museum there. I wrote a postcard to myself that said, 'Never forget Dali.' He would paint, do sculpture, ­architecture, film, photography."

Many creatives are collectors; Donald Glover is a collector of expression. He chooses to express himself and his story through multiple mediums, each adding their own flavor and style to his holistic story. In return, every medium that he dives into, he takes back with him onto the next project. Donald Glover knows, as well as everyone else, that being human is complicated, and to mirror that philosophy, no one medium can express the story that he is trying to tell. Inspiration along with gifted talent has allowed him to explore and create art in a wide variety of fields. Each field allows him to interact with the people surrounding the field in a slightly different way, each experience molding momentum for the next endeavor. He stays true to his philosophy, as he explains in the video attached below, that when he feels he has completed what he had set out to do, it is time to move on; it would be detrimental to keep driving on something that should have finished.

"In my house, I have an empty room: I have my studio there, a whiteboard with the Atlanta scripts, a canvas for painting and all my albums and DJ equipment. I wake up every morning and I start grabbing things -- spray-painting the walls, recording, writing. They're all connected for me. It's all about trying to get to the bottom of what being a human is." (Billboard Magazine)

In countless interviews, Donald Glover has stated that "he believes in endings". One must keep moving because that is what makes them human. People have the need to keep striving for their own personal truth and how best to understand it and realize it. Therefore, Donald Glover picks up a medium and concludes it, moving onto the next once he feels his best has been done. His awareness of domain and critique keep his schedule moving; the demand from his fans may still be there, but once he feels like he has nothing more to contribute, he goes onto the next project. The big picture project IS incomplete and the point is to keep moving and chasing the truth.