Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino has garnered the affection of the music critics on both sides of the pond which as an established known comedian, actor and writer is pretty difficult. After selling out both London tour dates almost straight away Nardene Scott met up with the multi talented man to talk UK music, being compared to Drake, juggling the music and comedy worlds and what to expect at the Camp show.

So what have you been up to since you landed in London?

Yeah this is my first time in London. Josh Osho and I recorded some stuff for then I woke up Monday and was here all day yesterday from nine on doing interviews. I love it!

You sold out both your shows here already, like straight away. How do you feel about that? Where you surprised?

I had a feeling as I always get tweets from people from here (laughs) so when the first show sold out in a couple minutes, we made another and that sold out quickly too. I guessed from the tweets, people were like ‘do a show in Manchester’.

The support is across the board too, you’ve got The Times and NME Magazine and us talking about it… Do you make your music to crossover?

Nah I think it just happens intrinsically because I grew up with all that stuff and liking all that stuff. And that’s the thing most kids do now – It wouldn’t be crazy for a kid to say ‘I listen to Adele AND Dizzee Rascal’. No one is going to be like ‘WHAAAT!?’. Everybody listens to everything. So its not that crazy growing up listening to a bunch of stuff but its really fun to come over here because in America, they see me as a comedian first.

That’s what I was gonna say, how do you juggle all your worlds? Which comes first?

I see them all as the same thing because they all come from the same place. All my music, the premise of it, its usually the same as my jokes. They’re all about race and girls. It’s not like I have to shut them off and do this.

What do you enjoy the most?

Right not, the music, right now. That’s because it move a lot faster than the jokes world.

Do you feel you have had to prove yourself more in music where as if you went from TV to film it would have been a lot easier?

Yeah, with music its something like acting – everyone has an opinion. I think I’ve done pretty well with music as its super easy for someone doing comedy or acting to do music and have people be like ‘this is total sh*t’. I don’t know who is big over here but if I a comedian started doing music, I know they’d have a bad time with it but because my music is very much like me, it’s been a little easier with the transition. That’s the thing – people think I’ve just started doing music… I’ve been doing it for 10 years! People think I’m doing it because I like myself a lot (laughs). A lot of actors do do that though. I don’t look at music that way. I think it’s a privilege I get to do music and do shows.

What can people expect from a Childish Gambino show?

It’s pretty hardcore. We’ve had fights (laughs). When I was younger, I didn’t like Hip Hop shows because I felt they were boring but I was probably going to the wrong Hip Hop shows.  I went to a Rage [of the Machines] show but I wasn’t going to Wu Tang shows or anything like that because my parents wouldn’t let me but I went to other shows… They weren’t that great as rap albums were the stuff you would listen to at home but rock was the opposite with not so good albums but the live shows were great. I always try and make my live shows a good experience, taking you through the peaks and valleys, starting with highs and then lows. The Camp Show takes place over a day of camping. It starts with setting up camp then it gets dark, gets crazy, then the sun comes back up. People who doubted me, people thinking this guy is just jerking off on stage, like when they see the show, they’re like they weren’t expecting that.

What about comparisons? Have you had any crazy ones yet?

I’ve had Odd Future, I’ve had Drake… Yeah Drake comparisons! It’s funny because you guys think differently. Over there, they have a huge comparison because he was a TV star too. It’s interesting. Over there, it’s funny, just something to grab on to.

Do you know of any artists this side of the pond? Tinie has been buzzing over there and obviously Adele.

Unfortunately I don’t know a lot… I know the big ones. I know Adele, I know Devlin. Josh Osho showed me Devlin and I was like… I was really… He destroyed a freestyle I saw. It made me feel the same way when I first saw Eminem with the anger. Dizzee, Amy [Winehouse] and who else? I don’t think he is big as he was but Mr. Hudson. He’s everywhere.

So before the album CAMP, what was you working on musically? Have you worked with any different producers? Artists? You mentioned you did some dates alongside Kendrick Lamar…

I am… It’s weird. One thing they brought up was that I don’t do a lot of collaborations and features, not because I think my stuff is better, I don’t, I just felt like I had to prove myself. I know a lot of people would think if I came out with an album with a load of features and a lot of producers, people will think ‘this guy needs help – obviously he can’t do it on his own’. I produced all the tracks myself but the next one will have features and I’ll do a mixtape before hand.

What sort of albums stood out for you when you were growing up and influence your music now?

I really liked The Cranberries when I was really young, how embarrassing. The Pharcyde stood out for me, Marshall Mathers, Life After Death from Biggie and erm… Those were the big ones. I use to listen to Anita Baker a lot. I didn’t realize how much Anita Baker, Funkadelic and Prince played a part in my childhood.

That’s a pretty eclectic mix do you think that’s why hip hop is changing so much and how do you think the sound is going to change?

I don’t know how it’s going to change necessarily but I think Hip Hop in general has become more ambient. Take Care for example. I didn’t put it in and was like ‘WHOA!’ but it was a grower and I think that’s what Hip Hop needed. It is a full album. Rock has that. You put on an Amimal Collective album to feel that way and then you may put in an Adele album to feel that way. Hip Hop never had that. I don’t know whether I want to keep playing into the ambient thing or do something different. I know I want to work with another producer on the next album like Missy Elliot. I haven’t heard tracks from her but she’s on Twitter (laughs).

Who else would you like to work with?

I love Missy Elliot, Fiona Apple – I guess I just grew up with her and she has that scary voice (laughs) I like scary voices. You don’t like scary voices!? It sounds creepy (laughs).

Make sure you follow @DonaldGlover on Twitter and go and cop CAMP

Tags: Childish Gambino, comedy, Hip Hop, Interviews, Josh Osho, Music, Tour, TV