Camp.
| Childish Gambino
Camp.
Camp is the debut studio album by American recording artist Donald Glover, under his stage name Childish Gambino. It was released on November 15, 2011, by Glassnote Records. After releasing four mixtapes and three independent albums, Gambino signed a deal to Glassnote, making Camp his first album on a major record label. The album was co-produced in its entirety by Gambino's longtime collaborator Ludwig Göransson. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
"Community" star Donald Glover's fourth hip-hop collection-- the first with a commercial release-- is preposterously self-obsessed, but not the least bit self-aware.
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AV Club
A meaty concept album about how the insecurities of youth carry into adulthood, Camp is heavy with themes of racial expectations and cultural ostracism—big ideas that aren’t always done justice by Glover's cartoonishly exaggerated, one-liner-laden flow.
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Focus Hip Hop
This album is great. I honestly don’t really have much to say tho… It kinda just feels like EP, but extended to be the full length of an album. I think it’s really dope. The production was fantastic & Donald killed pretty much every verse on here. I wasn’t in love with all of the songs about relationships and shit, but that’s normal for me. The only consistent problem that I had with this album was some of the sung hooks. I really don’t think Donald was that good of a singer when he recorded this album.
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Hip Hop DX
While the album doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, those with mainstream sensibilities that like metaphor-heavy rhymes with a strong dose of social commentary will be pleasantly surprised. Glover’s debut mirrors its creator by offering a mix of depth, humor topical pop culture fare.
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Paste Magazine
Even though the album is nearly an hour long, it doesn’t feel that long. No song seems out of place and every single one will be your favorite the moment you listen to it because of extremely quotable songs. Childish Gambino provided an album that is so raw and still so peaceful that even after a dozen times listening to it, Camp still doesn’t get old.
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Sputnik Music
On Camp we hear one of the most sincere rap albums of the year- if not longer- and see the evolution of a fledgling career. By the end of Camp, Glover is no longer “just a rapper,” he is a full grown man, and a legitimized MC.
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Entertainment Time
Ultimately, Camp is a skillful album created by a conflicted man. Sometimes he is witty like on his single “Bonfire,” an upbeat, bass-heavy number that houses most of the cultural references I mentioned earlier. Sometimes he is angry, like on “Kids,” when he makes a woman take Plan B in front of him so he knows she won’t trick him into getting her pregnant. And other times he is emotionally fragile, like on the album’s outro “That Power,” in which he delivers a spoken-word story about the time he told a girl he liked her liked her on the way home from summer camp — a story so detailed that he even mentions how the rubber band made a crease in the girl’s still wet hair — only to be rejected and laughed at. But if Camp doesn’t have a motif maybe that’s because Donald Glover doesn’t have one either. He acts, he writes, he still does stand-up, and yes, he also raps. Some people can’t be put into a box that easily.
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The Mac Weekly
simple, silly, and hilarious. It also showcases some of the most skilled rapping (e.g. tricky/creative cadences) on the entire record.
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Best New Bands
It’s a fantastic album and is far better than anything that Degrassi hack Drake is vomiting out these days. Get it, you can thank me later.
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Pop'stache
Glover holds nothing back on his first major release, and the results are phenomenal. He ends “That Power,” and the album, with a spoken story, about why he’s that open with his audience. “So I learned, cut out the middle man, make it all for everybody, always,” he says after talking about a girl misusing his trust. He’s grown up, while still holding onto the aspects of his youth that made him who is today. “The truth is I got on the bus a boy, and I never got off the bus. … I still haven’t.” Here’s hoping he never does.
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The Pop Break
Not one song was untouched, not one song not given the full run through. At the end of the album, Glover recollects a story regarding a bus trip home from summer camp, and how he told a girl about how he felt about her. While listening to the story, I hung on every word. The same goes for the whole album — Camp is definitely worth the enrollment if this type of music appeals to you.
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Contact Music
Glover would have made a phenomenal comedy rap album but instead, Childish Gambino has made an album that sounds as if it's intended to encapsulate the history of rap and hip-hop in an hour for someone who has never before heard it. He blasts through styles familiar to Tyler, The Creator, Usher, Tupac, Jay-Z and many others you might care to listen to instead of this.
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The Couch Sessions
With the Black unemployment rate nearing 20%, most people will dismiss Gambino’s diatribes as #FirstWorldProblems. But there is more than that. Gambino shows the true complexities of race is living, vivid color. As a writer and actor, Glover has played his greatest role yet.
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Neon Tommy
It’s clear that Childish Gambino has talent. It’s also clear that he is showing absolutely no signs of stopping. The album is mainly his way of scattering all of his “haters”. Gambino can act. And rap. And perform. And be funny. And be “black enough”. And be “real enough”. If anyone can pick up anything from just listening to one track on the album, it’s that he is not a force to be messed with.
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ihiphop
Camp is one of the most well rounded bodies of work I’ve heard in quite some time. I’ve never seen any episodes of NBC’s Community, the show that Donald Glover is best known for. However, I might have to start watching it because if Glover’s acting is anything like his music, than that show must be pretty f*cking good.
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The West Review
Camp is a massively underrated album that seems to have slipped under the radar of the mainstream, having released his sophomore effort Because The Internet towards the end of 2013, Childish Gambino will continue to rise in popularity. Camp is the perfect combination of his talents and greatly executed with some cleverly devised beats.
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The Independent
Vastly talented, he brings rare articulacy to the thorny subject of black self-image, particularly the problem of breaking down the barrier of ghetto authenticity. "White kids get to wear whatever they want, but when it comes to black kids, one size fits all," he frets. "I always wanted to get picked for the cool team/But on my own is how I should be," he realises. And he's certainly on his own musically, thanks to production collaborator Ludwig Göransson's inventive use of theatrical musical strategies to animate Gambino's concerns.
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Metro
Camp is certainly more than gimmicky and displays impressive verbal dexterity but whether it has staying power is less certain.
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Troubled Souls Unite
Is it all a big joke that he’s playing on us now? Pretending to be this honest while actually laughing behind the curtain? Possibly, but music is art, and art is in the eyes and ears of the consumer. And this is how I’d like to see it. Congrats, Donald Glover – not only does the album sound great, but it’s a beautiful diary that you’ve shared with the rest of the world.
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Popcorn and Profanity
WELL, WHILE IT’S NOT HORRENDOUS, AWFUL ETC AS SOME OTHER OPINIONS HAVE STATED, HE’S STILL GOT A LONG WAY TO GO AND FOR A COMMERCIAL ALBUM LIKE THIS, THERE ARE SO MANY REFERENCES THAT YOU FEEL YOU MIGHT NEED WIKIPEDIA OPEN ALL THE TIME. I DID FIND MYSELF SKIPPING OVER TRACKS AND LISTENING TO MY FAVOURITES- BUT SAYING THAT, HIS HONESTY, INSECURITIES AND WEARING HIS NERDINESS ON HIS SLEEVE IS WHAT KEEPS THINGS INTERESTING.
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IGN
As Childish Gambino, Donald Glover delivers a stellar album as full of thoughtful social commentary as booty shaking bangers. From the chilled G-Funk vibe of uplifting "Fire Fly", celebrating his rise to fame, to the fantastic spoken-word recollection of pouring his heart out to a girl on the bus after summer camp as a post-script to his Kanye-inspired knock-out "That Power", Glover delivers one of the most consistent, infectious rap albums of the year.
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The Young Folks
It is Childish Gambino’s realness that makes this album so great, the way he shows to his listeners how many times people have told him that he couldn’t make it, yet here he is and I’m hoping he gets the recognition he deserves and is never again looked at as an outsider. November 15th to some might be the day that “Take Care” hit stores, to me is the day I go out to “Camp” and never come back.
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The Squall
Not only do the songs get you excited and energetic, but they also have a deep meaning. All of his songs are reflective on his childhood. His songs have a mix of how his childhood was going well, but also how he was made fun of. You can tell he still remembers some of the words and sayings kids would say to him and uses them into his songs.
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All HipHop
Overall, Childish Gambino’s first commercial offering proves that he isn’t just an actor rapping for fun. He’s been taking music seriously for years, and Camp goes far in displaying Glover’s talent as a rapper. By embracing his differences, he is able to craft lyrically unique tracks, and through his effort on Camp, he has managed to establish himself as a distinctive and rising artist in the Hip-Hop/rap genre.
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PopMatters
In the end, Childish Gambino has produced a grand statement with Camp. The question of if the masses will hear it becomes the only question. This album is undoubtedly one of the best records of any genre to come out in 2011, and finally sets Donald Glover up as a “serious” rapper. It’s an album even Abed might be able to get emotional over (Sorry, I lied).
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