Childish Gambino’s Talk My Shit: Goin’ Out in Swag Style

Donald Glover, a.k.a. “Childish Gambino,” has said that his latest record Bando Stone and the New World will be his last under his Gambino stage name. Now, he may change his mind if his sold out shows and tens of millions of Spotify downloads continues. But for now, this is the last of the Childish Gambino and maybe future recordings under his given name. What started out as a bit of a laugh from a talented actor turned into culture defining songs from a serious artist. It really all kicked off in 2018 after This is America turned Gambino into a person who shaped political and social discourse. This final album sees him taking lessons from numerous musical genres he grew up with, while also having a good mix of serious art and childish fun.

The track Talk My Shit sees Gambino rapping with artists Amaare and Flo Milli. You may have heard of Flo Milli from her sexy track Never Lose Me with powerhouses SZA and Cardi B. Both women team up with Gambino for a fun track about money, cars and Atlanta. In classic Atlanta trap style there are tight electro drum lines, synthy bass and ultra stripped back arrangements. Gambino freshens it up a bit with some samples, vocal production flourishes and some fun sound effects. Southern trap was made famous to the masses by Migos and Gambino does a good job assisting on the production side of this track. In fact, Gambino has some fire beats on this record. His track Got to Be has an amazing sample/re-imagining of Prodigy’s Breathe…which itself takes from Wu-Tang in some respects…so it all comes around.

Lyrically it is as the track says…it’s Gambino, Amaare and Flo Milli talking their shit. Nothing deeper than that really, just some talented artists swagging around and talking their shit. The key is that they can all back it up. When Gambino drops “I’ma make a billi like I’m Eillish.” I knew I was in for a good time. There are bars about 24k gold, champagne, sex, taking on your haters and yachts. However, he fits some social commentary in there as he hints at appropriation and the surface level of social media with “White boy paid, had to put it on Tic Toc.”

The “final” album on a whole is very good and worth a front to back listen. This is Gambino at his best as he goes to tried and true fan favourites, while also having room to continue experimenting. It’s great to listen to talented hip hop artists have fun and go for it. Talk my Shit lives up to its title and doesn’t disappoint.

Listen to Talk my Shit