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Donald Glover

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Donald McKinley Glover
Glover at PaleyFest 2010
Glover at PaleyFest 2010
Background information
Birth nameDonald McKinley Glover
Born (1983-09-25) September 25, 1983 (age 40)
U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, rapper, songwriter, comedian, musician, music producer
LabelsGlassnote Records
Websitehttp://www.iamdonald.com/

Donald McKinley Glover[1] (born September 25, 1983) is an American rapper, actor, writer, comedian, and producer. Glover first came to attention for his work with Derrick Comedy and for subsequently being a writer for 30 Rock. Today, he is best known for his role as college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community and for his rising career as a stand-up comedian and rapper. In 2011, Glover signed to Glassnote Records under the stage name Childish Gambino after releasing several albums and mixtapes himself; his first studio album for the label, Camp, was released on November 15, 2011.

Early life and education

Donald McKinley Glover was born in California, and raised in Georgia. His father is a postal worker and his mother runs a daycare center. His parents were also foster parents. Glover graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006. He is, despite rumors, not related to actor Danny Glover.

Career

2006–10: TV, film, independent albums and mixtapes

Glover is known for his work on the NBC show Community with Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown and Danny Pudi. Glover was a writer for the NBC series 30 Rock from 2006 to 2009, where he also had an occasional cameo appearance. He was presented the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of 30 Rock.[2]

Glover raps and performs under the stage name Childish Gambino,[3] a name he found from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.[4] He released an independent album entitled Sick Boi on June 5, 2008.

Glover is a member of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, along with Dominic Dierkes, Meggie McFadden, DC Pierson, and Dan Eckman. Derrick's YouTube videos gained the group nationwide attention[citation needed] and have contributed to Donald Glover's recognition, as well as his newfound success in the television business. The group wrote and starred in a feature-length film, Mystery Team, released in theaters in 2009. On September 17, 2009, Childish Gambino released the independent album Poindexter.

A pair of mixtapes entitled I Am Just a Rapper, and I Am Just A Rapper 2 were released in close succession in early 2010. Robert Scahill added his producing expertise helping with the majority of the tracks. The track listings for those albums consist of the name of the song "he" raps, followed by the song he raps over. His third album, Culdesac, was set to be released on July 2, 2010, but a couple of last minute additions caused the album to be delayed for a day. The album was made available on July 3.[5] Glover has stated in interviews that on Sick Boi and Poindexter he felt he had to hide behind gimmicks, such as pink hoodies, but with his subsequent projects, he has touched on more personal subject matter, including family, schoolyard bullying, troubled romantic relationships, suicidal thoughts and alcoholism. He has disowned his 2005[6] album, The Younger I Get, as the too-raw ramblings of what he calls a "decrepit Drake."

Childish Gambino in concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City (October 17, 2010)

Glover's stand-up special aired on Comedy Central on March 19, 2010. In May 2010, a fan suggested Glover for the role of Peter Parker in the then-upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man film, encouraging his supporters to retweet the hashtag "#donald4spiderman".[7] The campaign, originally started to see how far social networking could carry a message, quickly gained a large following.[8] The call for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.[9] Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover's campaign went viral.[10] Bendis gave credit to Glover for influencing the new hero's looks; on seeing him dressed as Spider-Man on Community (a nod to the campaign) Bendis said, "I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.'".[11]

Glover received the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July 2010.[12] Glover was featured in Gap's 2010 Holiday ad campaign. Donald Glover DJs and produces his own music under the moniker "mcDJ" (pronounced "M-C-D-J"). His music is of the electronic/remix variety and is often made available for free download via his official site. His current album releases include Love Letter in an Unbreakable Bottle and Utterances of the Heart.

On December 1, 2010, Glover released the first track off of his EP titled "Be Alone". He released the next track, "Freaks and Geeks", as well as a five-song track list, on February 11, 2011. On February 25, Donald released the dates for the IAMDONALD tour and also his very first music video for "Freaks and Geeks".[13] The music video was shot by Dan Eckman, the director of the Derrick Comedy troupe. This song would later be used in an Adidas commercial featuring Dwight Howard which brought the song, and Donald, more recognition. On March 8, 2011 Donald released his newest EP via his official website.[14]

2011–12: Acting, comedy, touring and Camp

On March 16, 2011, Glover hosted the mtvU Woodie Awards held live at South By Southwest. On March 24, 2011, Glover taped his one hour comedy special Weirdo for Comedy Central; it aired on November 19.[15][16] Donald appeared at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 9 in the 'This Tent' as Childish Gambino and June 11 at 'The Comedy Theater' with Bill Bailey performing stand up. Comedy Central streamed the comedy live on their website.[17]

On May 4, 2011, in an interview with TheHipHopUpdate, Glover revealed that he was working on an LP, to be released in September.[18] During the weekend of the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, Donald performed with his band and his DJ, SoSuperSam, at the House of Blues in San Diego.[19] Donald performed a new song from his LP and explained why he had not used Twitter or Tumblr in a while.[20]

On July 25, 2011, Donald Glover announced that his new album would be entitled Camp. On October 8, during his Orlando concert, he announced Camp would be released on November 15, 2011. On August 20, 2011, at the Los Angeles Rock The Bells concert, he gave an interview to AllHipHop.com, and announced to the crowd that he had signed with Glassnote Records.[21] This means that his music will be published onto physical media for the first time including CDs and vinyl. In September 2011, Childish Gambino played at the BruinBash festival at UCLA. On September 20, he released his first official single, "Bonfire". It received much praise on blogs and music message boards.[citation needed] On November 15, 2011, he performed "Heartbeat" from his album Camp on Conan.

The IAMDONALD tour made 23 stops in 33 days, beginning with Ames, IA on April 16, and finishing with Minneapolis, MN on May 19. In between, this included performances in music venues in cities such as Las Vegas, Houston, Washington, and Atlanta. The tour's shows in New York at the Bowery Ballroom on May 10, and in Brooklyn at Williamsburg Music Hall on May 14, both sold out in three hours after tickets were released on March 4.[22] The Sign-Up Tour was Donald's next pre-tour. He visited 11 cities over the course of 38 days in October and November 2011.[23] Glover made a website for the tour called "Camp Gambino" on November 19, four days after his album released.[24] The tour will also feature special guest Danny Brown. The tour will make 20 stops during the course of 32 days along a dates in California in December.[25] As reported on his website on March 14, 2012, several dates on the CAMP tour have been postponed due to a fractured foot Donald Glover suffered on March 10, while performing in Tampa, Florida. The tour began in Austin, Texas on April 5 and ended August 10 in Hollywood, California.

In January, 2012, Donald made a cameo as himself in the YouTube webseries (Episode 12) "The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl". He was on the show to meet the main character who is a big fan of Donald Glover and was taken backstage at one of his concerts.[26]

On January 11, 2012, Childish Gambino announced on his website that a new mixtape would be coming out soon. On April 2, he released a new song, "Eat Your Vegetables and Fruits", through his website, IAmDonald.com. Due to the frequent use of the word on his website and Twitter account, many believe the new mixtape will be titled Royalty. This was later cleared up by Donald on the BET show, 106 & Park, on May 1, where he stated that "Royalty" was just the name he gave to the group of his friends/musicians that he travels and performs with. On May 9, an unfinished track entitled "Fuck Your Blog" was leaked on the internet, featuring Flynt Flossy and Yung Humma from Turquoise Jeep; this track is thought to be on the upcoming mixtape, and Donald expressed his annoyance on Twitter later that day about the song being leaked before it was finished. On May 14, Funkmaster Flex premiered "Unnecessary", featuring Schoolboy Q. On May 16, Gambino released "We Ain't Them" through his website, produced by himself and frequent collaborator Ludwig. On May 22, Donald appeared on Das Racist's radio show "Chillin' Island" where he premiered a new song, "Tell Me", which featured Himanshu Suri, aka Heems from Das Racist. On May 26, Donald released "Black Faces" through his website, featuring Nipsey Hussle and produced by Boi-1da. On May 30, he released a third track through his website, "Silk Pillow", featuring Beck and produced by both Glover and Beck.

On June 9, 2012, Gambino performed live at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, bringing with him Steve G. Lover and Heems of Das Racist. On June 15, 2012, Glover premiered "Shoulda Known" on Wired 96.5. On June 25, Glover revealed (through his website) that the mixtape was to be released on July 4. On June 26, Donald premiered another new track, on Sway In The Morning (on Shade 45), entitled "One Up", featuring his brother, Steve G. Lover. That same day, Donald stated that the mixtape would be titled Royalty (despite previous statements that it would not be called that). On July 3, Donald released the artwork for the mixtape (via his Twitter account), as well as a tracklist consisting of 18 songs. On July 4, 2012, Glover released Royalty (through his website) for free via digital download. On July 7, 2012, Gambino released the track, "Body", featuring Prodigy, which did not make the cut for Royalty. On July 16, 2012, DJ SoSuperSam released her new mixtape, Trigger Happy, which included a new Childish Gambino track titled "Sour Face", featuring Jay Rock. On July 24, 2012, he released the music video for "Fire Fly" through his VEVO account on YouTube. On July 31, 2012, it was announced the Childish Gambino had been nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video for "Heartbeat".

On August 21, 2012, BBC Radio 1 premiered Leona Lewis' new song, "Trouble", off her upcoming album, Glassheart, which features Childish Gambino. The song will be available for purchase via iTunes on October 7.

On August 28, 2012, Rapsody released The Idea of Beautiful, which included the track "Beautiful Music", featuring Childish Gambino and GQ and produced by Ka$h.

On September 12, 2012, it was announced that Donald was working on a new sitcom with NBC that would be loosely based on his life.

On October 2, 2012, DJ Drama released Quality Street Music with a the track "Same Ol' Story" featuring Kid Ink, ScHoolboy Q, Cory Gunz, and Childish Gambino.

On October 14, 2012 Donald preformed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival

On November 4, 2012 Ludwig Göransson said in an interview with Portable that he and Donald were in his studio coming up with new ideas for a new Childish Gambino album. It was said to be a bigger album, with more people involved.

Nicknames

Throughout his years on the TV screen, in the studio, as well as during stand-up performances, Glover/Gambino has generated numerous nicknames (both self-generated and fan-made): Bambino/Bambini/Bino/Bambi/Bam-B, Childish Gamnbibe, Cheezy, Cloud 9, D-Money, D-Stacks, Elroy, Gambeezy, Ms. Long-Lady Stanhope, Sir Durton, Young Gambino, and The Black James Franco. Many times people refer to him by abbreviating his name to initials, calling him "DG" (Donald Glover) or "CG" (Childish Gambino).

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Channel 101 Various Television film
2009 Mystery Team Jason Rodgers
2010 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III Stormtrooper
Scout Trooper
Mace Windu 		Voice only
Television film
2011 The Muppets Junior CDE Executive Cameo
2013 The To Do List Adam Completed
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Criminal 1 episode
2006–2008,
2012[27] 		30 Rock Homosexual Kid
Producer
Young P.A.
Young Tracy Jordan 		Writer
Cameo in 3 episodes
Guest star in 1 episode
2007 Bronx World Travelers Scoopy Brown Short film
Human Giant College Webcam Guy 1 episode
2009–present Community Troy Barnes Main cast
2010 Comedy Central Presents Himself Stand-up special
2011 Woodie Awards Host
Regular Show Alpha-Dawg Guest voice, 1 episode
Weirdo Himself Stand-up special
2012 Hip Hop Squares Childish Gambino Guest star, 1 episode
2013 Girls[28] TBA Season 2
Adventure Time[29] Marshall Lee Guest voice

Discography

Main article: Childish Gambino discography

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Donald Glover

See also

References

  1. ^ "California Births, 1905 - 1995". Family Tree Legends. Pearl Street Software. p. 2.
  2. ^ "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced" (Press release). Writers Guild of America. December 8, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  3. ^ "childishgambino". childishgambino. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  4. ^ "[[Late Night with Jimmy Fallon]]". April 6, 2011. NBC. Fallon: Childish Gambino is your name. And you got that from a...? Glover: Wu-Tang name generator. Yeah. Fallon: When did you get that? Glover: I think it was like sophomore year of college. We were all hanging out, chilling and drinking and then we were like, "oh, Wu-Tang name generator, let's put our name in." And we're putting them all in, and they're all funny and stuff, and then mine came up and I was like, "you guys, it's not funny anymore. This is something big." I just really liked it. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |episodelink= (help); External link in |quote= (help); Missing or empty |series= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  5. ^ "culdesac". Culdesac-album.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  6. ^ "Childish Gambino – 'The Younger I Get'". Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  7. ^ Glover, Donald (May 30, 2010). "You guys. Let's make this happen". Twitter. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  8. ^ Sciretta, Peter (May 30, 2010). "Donald Glover Campaigns for Spider-Man Audition". /Film. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  9. ^ Lamar, Cyriaque (June 9, 2010). "Smilin' Stan Lee weighs in on Donald Glover for Spider-Man". io9. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  10. ^ Moore, Matt (August 2, 2011). "New Ultimate Spider-Man Is Half-Black, Half-Latino". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  11. ^ Truitt, Brian (August 2, 2011). "A TV comedy assured new Spidey's creator". USA Today. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  12. ^ "Aziz Ansari & Donald Glover To Be Honored In Montreal". Access Hollywood. June 24, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  13. ^ Roberts, Steven (2011-03-08). "Donald Glover Releases Untitled EP". MTV.com. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  14. ^ "iamdonald". iamdonald.com. 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  15. ^ Carp, Jesse (August 17, 2011). "Community's Donald Glover Schedules Stand-Up Special Weirdo For Comedy Central". Cinema Blend. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  16. ^ "Comedian, Writer and Rapper Wunderkind Donald Glover Shows Off His Side-Splitting Stand-Up Style When the World Premiere of "Donald Glover: Weirdo" Debuts Saturday, November 19 at 11:00 P.M. ET/PT on Comedy Central" (Press release). Comedy Central. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  17. ^ Staples, Derek (May 27, 2011). "Comedy Central to webcast Bonnaroo Comedy Tent". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  18. ^ "thehiphopupdate". thehiphopupdate.com. 2011-05-04. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  19. ^ "House of Blues". houseofblues.com.
  20. ^ "Childish Gambino New Song". youtube.com. 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  21. ^ "Childish Gambino signs to Glassnote Records". youtube.com. 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
  22. ^ Jensen, Bill (April 13, 2011). "Donald Glover Is More Talented Than You". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  23. ^ "Let's Go Camping". iamdonald.com. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  24. ^ "Camp Gambino". iamdonald.com. 2011-11-19.
  25. ^ "Camp Gambino Dates". iamdonald.com. 2011-12-06.
  26. ^ "Awkward Black Girl". Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  27. ^ Michael Ausiello (2012-04-12). "30 Rock Casts Donald Glover in Live Episode - Season 6". TVLine. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  28. ^ Brady, Elizabeth (21 May 2012). "Lena Dunham confirms 'Community' star Donald Glover is heading to HBO's 'Girls' for Season 2". From Inside the Box. Zap2it. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  29. ^ Webb, Charles (12 October 2012). "Cartoon Network Announces 'Adventure Time' Fifth Season, Return Of Neil Patrick Harris". MTV Geek. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
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