Because the Internet by Childish Gambino
Because the Internet is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist Donald Glover, under the stage name Childish Gambino. The album was released on December 6, 2013 by Glassnote Records and Island Records, and then four days later in North America by Glassnote and Universal. The recording process began in 2012 and ended in October 2013. Recording primarily took place at a mansion owned by basketball player Chris Bosh, which Gambino rented. Because the Internet features guest appearances from Chance the Rapper, Jhené Aiko and Azealia Banks, with production primarily handled by Gambino, Stefan Ponce, and Ludwig Göransson, among others. The album was supported by the singles "3005", "Crawl", "Sweatpants" and "Telegraph Ave." Gambino also released a short film titled Clapping for the Wrong Reasons and a 72-page screenplay to go along with the album in promotion of it. Upon its release, Because the Internet received generally positive reviews from music critics, including an average score of 64 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews. It also received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. It also performed well commercially, debuting at number seven on the US Billboard 200 and number 12 on the Canadian Albums Chart. As of December 2014, it has sold 377,000 copies in the United States.
On 2013’s <i>Because the Internet</i>, Childish Gambino, a.k.a. Donald Glover, began showing some of the otherworldly ambition that would inform his work as a famous multidisciplinary artist. The songwriter, comedian, TV writer and general creative had his hand in many ventures when he began recording <i>Because the Internet</i>, in 2012. It arrived after his debut LP, 2011’s <i>Camp</i>, which itself was preceded by a string of mixtapes. Those releases showcased the artist’s hyper-aware rapping style, mixing in paralysing self-doubt with moments of ecstasy and referential asides to popular memes and moments that proliferated on the internet. On <i>Because the Internet</i>, he firms up his style more clearly than ever before, working with co-producers Stefan Ponce and Ludwig Göransson to achieve a sprawling and unique vision. Glover’s sophomore effort was meant to honour the work he introduced on his major-label debut, but expand its philosophy into weirder, more challenging places. Alongside the album, Glover also released a short film titled <i>Clapping for the Wrong Reasons</i> and a 72-page screenplay to go along with the LP. The album itself is equally ambitious in scope. The title came from Beck, with Glover explaining that the alternative icon helped him realise that the internet is the language of the earth and that it’s only thanks to the internet that they’re both where they are in their careers. It was a forward-thinking approach when the record was released, and a prediction that would prove its prescience again and again. On the project, Glover showcases a firm grasp of the cultural moment, which arrived as he was winding down his role on the TV show <i>Community</i> to focus on his career as Childish Gambino and a TV show he had just begun developing—which would eventually become <i>Atlanta</i>. Despite Glover’s hectic schedule, <i>Because the Internet</i> is a fully formed effort, a sprawling opus that was an homage to and critical study of the rapidly changing world ushered in by the internet. Glover was, as he was willing to admit, a product of the democratisation that arrived thanks to the web’s ubiquity. By the time <i>Because the Internet</i> arrived, though, Glover began to shape a not-small portion of online culture in his image, too.
