To me, this is where most of the hate comes from for Childish Gambino, the rapping persona of Community’s Donald Glover.
Critics love to hate on him. He’s too boastful or too insecure or too scattered in his many many references to movies, television, clothes and women for people to get behind his lyrics. He also embraces the hipster culture, which can turn hipsters against you pretty damn quickly.
His scattered boastful insecurity is kind of refreshing, though, isn’t it? He’s not walking around in a straight billed baseball hat, sagging his pants and proclaiming his greatness. He’s wearing skinny jeans, talking about feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention while simultaneously challenging anyone to take the spotlight away from him.
His unapologeticlly intelligent lyrics keep me coming back to his mixtapes, EP and two albums (Culdesac and Camp), but his musical juxtaposition usually makes it beyond my musical enjoyment and into my thoughts during the day.
I’m reasonably successful at my job. Not in a “Here’s a giant bonus,” sort of way but in a “Hey, I really appreciate the work you do,” kind of way. This moderate success created a little conflict with former graduate school friends who weren’t able to find work and weren’t happy for me when I started thriving in our profession.
It continues to leave me feeling lucky and grateful that my set of job skills matches up with my employer’s needs, and also some serious pride for doing meaningful work and doing it well. My own juxtaposition of insecurity and boastfulness doesn’t come off quite as intense, neurotic or, sadly, witty as Gambino’s, but his themes strike a chord in me none-the-less.
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