Childish Gambino seemed relieved to beat the heat when Complex caught up with him for an interview during the South By Southwest festivities. Gambino as Donald Glover (his real name) is known as a successful comedian, television writer, and actor, but it appears he's focusing on music. Immediately, Gambino opened up about where he sees himself as a musical artist.
"I just want to push things forward, like... I feel like if you're not moving forward as an artist, you're kind of wasting your time here." Says Gambino. "I just didn't want to do that which is why I left, like, Community, just for a little. I just feel like I wanted to do other things. Things should be, for lack of a better term, edgy."
Childish Gambino is referring to when he left Community prematurely in season 5, which upset fans of the show but perhaps enabled him to make his next big album, Because The Internet, as good as it ended up being.
Next, Gambino was asked about his mixed feelings about the popular World Star Hip Hop site (one of his songs was named after the popular, edgy website). For Gambino, he both loved and hated elements of site, saying, "I love that you can talk to a kids and he's watching the fight com and then he's also like, 'did you hear about Russia?'"
It's an interesting stance, but its true. Some of the most "ratchet" (in Gambino's words) content available on the web is from foriegn countries, often ones which are facing problems. As Childish Gambino sees it, in it's own way, it's raising worldliness one brutal fight video at a time. Which brings Gambino to his not-so-fond feelings toward the site.
"The hate part... Honestly, it has more to do with humanity. Like, I'm going to get used to seeing someone die," say Gambino, referring to some of the more violent, edgy content for which the site is known.
However, the conversation turned back to Gambino as he was asked about some of the disses he's been laying out. On the subject, he said, "I'm not gonna lie, sometime I do be going at some people specifically. And the thing about it is, like, I think rappers can't take being talked about. I think it's so stupid. Like, we're grown men - so, someone doesn't like you. Who cares?"
While Gambino remained tight-lipped about one up-and-coming project, he confirmed that he does already have a few songs lined up for the new album.
Watch the full interview in the video below.