About Feels Like Summer

Childish Gambino is the hip-hop alter ego of multi-hyphenate American entertainer Donald Glover, who is also known for acting roles on television shows like Community and the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Atlanta, as well as the film Solo: A Star Wars Story. As Childish Gambino, Glover refined his off-kilter brand of hip-hop on his 2013 breakthrough album Because the Internet, before making a sharp turn toward R&B-inspired funk, which won him a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2017 for the single, "Redbone." In 2018, his politically-charged song "This Is America" debuted at number one atop the Billboard Hot 100, buoyed by a viral music video that addressed gun violence and racial injustice.

While studying at NYU, Glover joined the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, which caught the attention of Tina Fey, who hired him in 2006 to write for 30 Rock. Three years later he left that job to move to Los Angeles and was soon cast on the sitcom Community. The year before, he had released his first mixtape, Sick Boi, under the moniker Childish Gambino, which was conceived by an online Wu-Tang Clan name generator. His next mixtape, Poindexter, was released on September 19, 2009, the same day Community premiered on NBC. While his brainy, sometimes goofy rapping style was established by these two mixtapes, his next efforts sought to expand his reach and touch on more serious subjects.

I Am Just a Rapper and I Am Just a Rapper 2 were released in quick succession at the beginning of 2010; followed a couple months later with Culdesac, a mixtape that showed off his soulful singing style. All the while he was still starring on Community, launching a successful standup comedy career, and making electronic music under the name mcDJ. To this point all his music had been self-released, but that changed when he was signed to Glassnote Records in 2011. His first official album, Camp, was issued that same year. Busy as ever, Glover launched a tour that lasted into 2012, then released another mixtape, Royalty, denoting his new status as a more serious rapper and featuring a range of musicians including Beck, ScHoolboy Q, and Das Racist's Heems.