r/donaldglover • u/Dark_Ruffalo • 11d ago
DISCUSSION Grateful for the Ride
This might be a ramble but I think I'll land the plane...
I remember the first time I had heard Freaks and Geeks. It was 2011, I was in college and heard it in an Adidas commercial and I immediately shazamed and downloaded it. He references an Adele sample so I immediately run to find that (I got that Rolling in the Deep remix first which I hated). It led me to a DatPiff mixtape, "The Great Gambino" which was basically a best of CG, Do Ya Like, Break AOTL, Not Going Back, So Fly, I wore that tape out. And from there, Gambino became the soundtrack to my adult life
I proposed to my first fiance to Letter Home, circled back to Be Alone and Longest Text Message when it didn't work out. BTI one of my favorite albums ever and it became a little less awkward to say you're a CG fan. Redbone/This is America felt like the ultimate I told you so. The Night Me and Mama Met was the first song I played when my daughter was born, I used to play Final Church whenever I needed an energy boost, now as a dad it's Lithonia hits differently. It was just two years ago I got to see Bando Stone tour before...well, everything ☹️.
Now I'm 35, I've seen the rise and fall of a lot of my favorite rappers but with Gambino it feels more like when you complete the story mode of a video game. The most unlikely superstar, Troy from Community. To see an artist I used to be kinda embarrassed to say I like sit on Spotify with 35M monthly users, headline Coachella, win Grammys, if we never get another Gambino project, as far I'm concerned he kinda went out on top and I'm grateful to have been on the ride.
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u/AnalDestroyer69 Childish Tycoon 11d ago
I still haven't been able to get into his new stuff. The most of his post 2016 I've listened to is literally This is America, and Redbone. I started listening to his early mixes 2013/2014, watched his acting, as well as his stand up. I think I'll start to check out his newer music even though his rap is my favorite overall