8/3/2019 RaheemDeVaughn/DonaldGlover

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T U E S D A Y | 1 1 . 1 5 . 2 0 1 1 | E X P R E S S | 35

Man, why does every black actor

gotta rap some? wonders Donald

Glover, the actor who moonlights

as the rapper Childish Gambino.

I dont know/All I know is Im the

best one.

It isnt an empty boast. With his

new, sure-to-be-breakthrough disc,

Camp, Glover has completed his

unlikely evolution from comedy

writer to actor (he co-stars in the

sitcom Community) to ridicu-

lously good alterna-rap star.

Camp, which details Glovers

rise from suburban kid to at least

to hear him tell it underappreci-

ated rapper, is smart, tightly made

and intensely personal. Its focused

on a central complaint: that Glov-

er is a cultural misfit, too hip-hop

[read: black] for indie rock, too indierock for hip-hop, or, as Glover sums

it up on one devastating line on the

great Firefly, the only black kid

at a Sufjan [Stevens] concert.

Although Camp makes much

of this div ide, its best songs look

backward. Theyre built-up, soul-

influenced tracks t hat reference

Glovers childhood, often braced

Donald Glover, who co-stars on Community, records music as Childish Gambino.

STACHEMEDIA

Say It Aint So, Brad

Pitt, 47, says he mightquit acting when heturns 50 years old

Donald Glover stakeshis claim as the best

actor-turned-rapperon a new disc, Camp

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

SATURDAY:His

new stand-up

special, Weir-

do, pre-

mieres on Comedy

Central (11 p.m.).

THURSDAY:

Glover stars in

another episode

of his NBC sit-

com, Commu-

nity (8 p.m.).

TUESDAY:

The 28-year-

old releases

Camp; goes

on Conan

(TBS, 11 p.m.).

This week

might be the

biggest of Don-

ald Glovers

young career.

Apple has launched iTunes Match, a new cloud music service that was supposed to debut in Octo-ber. Unlike other cloud services, iTunes Match, which costs $25 per year, scans the music you have in your library andallows you to access high-quality versions of songs you already own in the cloud, if available on iTunes. If a song isnt,Apple will upload your copy to the cloud. Your library can then be synced among various iDevices. (EXPRESS)

by sing-song backing vocals and

stringed instruments (like Out-

side, which owes a good deal,

intentional or not, to Cults Go

Outside). The discs grimmer

material, most of which referenc-

es Glovers perceived uncoolness

(like the tuneless but funny hipster

takedown Backpackers) doesnt

fare as well.

Nostalgia and aggrievement

merge on Hold You Down, a

dark, strangely pretty indictment

of racism (Youre not not racist

cause The Wires in your Netflix

queue) that almost makes a case for

the discs main theme the televi-

sion star as underdog. ALLISON STEW-

ART (THE WASHINGTON POST)

Childish

Gambino

Read Christophers previous columns at:

expressnightout.com/soundbets

Radical RaheemMusic celebrities including Kanye

West and Russell Simmons support

he Occupy movement, but R&B sing-

r and Prince Georges County native

Raheem DeVaughn has taken it to

he next level and has actually been

rrested for occupying something.

DeVaughn, with Princeton professor

Cornel West and

17 others, was de-

tained in D.C. on Oct.

16 for gathering on

the steps of the U.S.

Supreme Court and

refusing to leave.

DeVaughns re-

ponse to that incident is his new

Freedom Fighter mixtape, which

an be downloaded for free at 368mu-

icgroup.bandcamp.com. The revo-

utionary rhetoric is loud, as when

DeVaughn sings, Its hard to watch

he throne/when Im watching the

lock/I got a vest at the crib/and aoaded Glock, on the track My Plea.

But the collection is sonically strong

nd features contributions from Dami-

n Marley, Bun B, Jill Scott and more.

The 36-year-old R&B Hippie Neo-

Soul Rock Star has always been a

reative self-promoter, efforts that

now include a weekly Internet radio

how on Blis.fm. But unlike when

most celebs big-up the 99 Per-

ent, DeVaughns Freedom Fighter

ounds like more than a PR move.

ASTRIDRIECKEN/FTWP