Instead of the typical pseudo-definitive ranking of the “Best Albums of 2016,” this December we’re trying something different. The Rutgers Review is bringing you 31 days of our writers’ favorite albums this year, from internationally anticipated releases to local debuts to a few guilty pleasures, without caring what critics have had to say.
Childish Gambino, the hip-hop alias of writer, comedian, and actor Donald Glover, doesn’t bring hip-hop to the table in his recently released album, “Awaken, My Love!”. Gambino takes his third studio record in a different direction, drawing extensively from an older school of influences ranging from funk to soul to psychedelic rock. The resulting sonic landscape is one composed of deep bass grooves, screeching electric guitars, melodic keyboard arrangements, and Childish Gambino’s singing voice, possibly used to its most soaring extreme out of all of the music he has put out thus far. There are moments on the record when it seems Gambino’s voice has certain limitations for the high-energy delivery this music demands; however, though this might serve as a slight detriment to the record, the sheer exuberance of “Awaken, My Love!” is what carries the album through.
The first single to be released off the album, “Me and Your Mama,” is also the first track, featuring a delicate piano intro that slowly builds into a beautiful vocal arrangement until the song explodes into fuzzed-out mayhem complete with Gambino’s impassioned, fever-pitch singing about how “this isn’t just puppy love.” The stand-out tracks on the album, in my opinion, were the ones that utilized the full extent of Gambino’s funk, soul and psychedelic influences, sometimes better displayed on longer cuts such as the second single “Redbone,” the sweet crooning of “Baby Boy,” or the motivational nostalgia in the lyrics of the final track, “Stand Tall.”
Beyond the critical approach to viewing this album, listening to “Awaken, My Love!” managed to consistently put a happy smile on my face, an undeniable power of its infectious grooves and musical and lyrical soul. Fans of Childish Gambino’s hip-hop releases might be confused by this latest left-turn that abandons rapping in favor of soulful funk, but with a little patience, “Awaken, My Love!” may just prove to be a defining artistic statement from a multi-talented artist.