Daily Archives: November 12, 2011

POP CULTURE

Grizzly Album Review: “Camp” by Childish Gambino

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Many actors become rappers if they have the talent. Many rappers also become actors if they have the talent. Will Smith, Ice Cube, Xzibit, Drake, and Common are some of the names that come to mind, but now I’ve got a new name to add to that list, Childish Gambino. You may recognize him as Troy on the NBC show Community, or the even more successful Derrick Comedy sketches, the film Mystery Team, and as an Emmy-winning writer for 30 Rock. Truth is, Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino, is one of the hardest working people in the industry right now, balancing both a music, acting, comedy, and writing career almost seamlessly.

Gambino first began releasing music in 2008 with his self-released debut album Sick Boi. The album was a success on the internet, which inspired five more releases (Poindexter, I Am Just A Rapper, I Am Just A Rapper 2, Culdesac, and EP) from 2009-2011 before he was able to release his debut studio release, Camp. Released on Glassnote records, Camp is not only a stylistic, but also a lyrical step forward for Gambino, whose raps consisted mostly of talking about his d***, his chicks, and his money. Personally I felt like his lyrics became much more relatable and interesting around the release of I Am Just A Rapper 2. He had fully taken on the responsibilities of his Childish Gambino personality, and he ran with it. Although d***s, chicks, and money is still extremely prevalent in his music, there’s a clever and usually wildly funny punchline to accompany it.


Earning a degree in Dramatic Writing at NYU, Glover is a skilled and able wordsmith, which is what makes Gambino’s raps not only smooth, but wickedly clever. One of my favorite lines on the whole album occurs on the album’s first single, “Bonfire”, and it goes, “You’re my favorite rapper now, yeah dude I better be, or you can f***ing kiss my ass, Human Centipede!” I mean, if you guys need any reason to go to college, let this be it. You can graduate, start working with Tina Fey on a daily basis, and then become a world famous rapper as a side-job.

Along with the great lyrics that are expected from Gambino come equally as engaging beats and rhythms. When performing live, Donald tends to use a live band as opposed to pre-recorded background. This may in some ways explain the layered and sometimes surprisingly alternative beats that come from him and his team. The result is not only one of the best releases of the year, but also Gambino’s best release ever. Even if you don’t like his voice, check out Camp just for the lyrics, they’re guaranteed to make you crack a smile or even burst out laughing.

Best Track: Bonfire and Backpackers

5/5 Bears

POP CULTURE

Grizzly Album Review: “Blue Slide Park” by Mac Miller

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Since 2007, 19 year old Mac Miller has been gaining a well-deserved following, releasing a steady amount of mixtapes since he was only 15. Now, four years later, he’s releasing his first studio album, Blue Slide Park. Garnering an insane amount of hype on Twitter due to Miller himself posting a constant stream of tweets about it, Blue Slide Park is finally here, and it doesn’t disappoint.

As a newer and sometimes skeptical fan of Mac Miller, Blue Slide Park has a miraculous balance of classic Miller, while also boasting his ability to carry an entire album on his own. That’s right, not one guest spot on this joint, just pure rap with some catchy hooks. I have to say this is a refreshing and much-needed change of pace in a day when some songs have as many as 15 guest stars on them (see: All of the Lights by Kanye West). It’s calming in some ways to know that one voice really can carry a whole album from front to back with no pit stops.

For non-Mac Miller fans, this album probably won’t change your mind, but for fans of the Pittsburgh native, you’ll fall even farther in love with him than you already have. A 16-track album with not one dud is a pretty amazing feat considering the state of hip-hop these days. Miller is a young voice that almost every teenager can relate to in some way or another. I remember on his mixtape Best Day Ever, he has a song entitled “She Said” and in the opening he says, “Yo, I’m feelin’ ill! And not like, cool or anything, like I’m coming down with a sickness.” At that point, I knew this white boy meant business.

The only drawback that I can’t think of at the moment is that Miller is known for rapping about three things: weed, parties, and girls. He hasn’t deviated much from this pattern on Blue Slide Park, and yet in some ways he has, thinking of more creative ways to let the listener visualize these things.

Overall, Blue Slide Park is an extremely solid release, as well as one of the best albums of the year. It’s available now wherever music is sold (iTunes is probably your best bet though).

Best Track: Frick Park Market and Smile Back

4.5/5 Bears

MOVIES

In Case you Missed It: Like Crazy

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Love has been represented on film since cameras could capture imagery. For hundreds of years, love has been the sole representation of many artists through all kinds of artistic mediums. Music, paintings, sculptures, and even buildings have been created due to love.

So, why is it that love can’t be honestly captured through cinema? Is it because “love knows no bounds” and is impossible to represent through a picture? Or is it because we really don’t want to know what love actually is, rather a more, well, romantic version of it.

Like Crazy, which is director Drake Doremus’ debut film, is about a pair of college students who fall for each other during their senior year. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) is an aspiring furniture maker, while Anna (Felicity Jones) is hoping to make it as a journalist. The two meet after Anna leaves a romantic, and somewhat long, note on Jacob’s car. They go on a date, and the chemistry is immediate. For the rest of their final year at college, they’re inseparable, but when graduation rolls around, Anna has to go home because her student visa has expired. She’d have to be out of the country and out of Jacob’s arms for two and a half months. Not able to bear this almost insurmountable amount of time, she decides that she’s going to stay, and Jacob stupidly agrees.

The two spend the rest of the summer together, until she really has to go back for a family member’s wedding. When she tries to come back to the states, though, she is denied access due to violation of her prior visa. She is sent back to London alone and heartbroken. The film then fades to what we can presume is a couple of months later since Jacob and Anna don’t seem to be talking much anymore. Finally, Jacob breaks down and goes to London to visit her, where again the two are madly in love. During the end of their holiday together, Anna suggests that Jacob be allowed to see other people for “his benefit” because she feels like he’s “not able to live the life he wants to.” Jacob is hurt by this, and goes back to the states lonely and heartbroken (sensing a pattern here?).

The film proceeds to fade again to what the audience must presume is months later again. Jacob is now with a girl named Sam (Jennifer Lawrence, oddly enough, as Yelchin’s love interest for the 2nd time this year, after the far superior ‘The Beaver’). Anna is alone, and begs Jacob to come back and marry her because she’s so madly in love with him. Jacob then stupidly agrees again, breaks Sam’s heart, and goes and marries Anna.

They are then separated again for six more months while Anna’s visa application processes. When the six months are up, they go to get everything validated, only to find out that her visa is still not eligible for validation to due the first incident. Angry and annoyed by this, they have another huge fight, which prompts them to divorce.

Jacob goes back to the states lonely and heartbroken yet again.

You guys know the drill by now. Film fades, Jacob is back with Sam, and Anna is with Simon (Charlie Bewley), a neighbor that was a little too friendly with Anna when Jacob wasn’t with her. Both Simon and Sam seem exponentially happy with their relationships whereas Jacob and Anna still aren’t fulfilled even though it clearly looks like they are. I know you must hate me by now as I’m giving away the entire plot, or shreds of what can be called a plot, but I feel required to for numerous reasons.

For one, Like Crazy is a mostly aimless film. Written only in outlines, and having the cast improvise all of the lines, Like Crazy is simply a selection of scenes rather than a coherent story. At first, I thought that the improvisational approach the film took was both experimental and innovative, but seeing how conventional the story is, and how bland the characters are, it seems more like a lazy cop-out than an artistic decision. Our protagonists are borderline unlikable in the way that they toy with the feelings of not only each other, but also all the other people around them. Anna’s parents, whose roles end up being more of an extended cameo than anything, have the most fascinating and funny scenes in the film. They represent a much happier, more decisive couple that knew what they were getting into before they rushed to get married.

In my opinion, Sam was a much better match for Jacob than Anna, but love does what it wants, and in this case, it kicked her heart in the ass, twice I might add, which I felt was extremely unfair to her character. As for Simon, he was also a great guy who truly cared about Anna’s well-being and future. Not that Jacob didn’t, but I felt like Simon took a much more proactive approach to life than Jacob did.

In defense of Like Crazy, the performances, music, and direction were all fantastic, but its lackluster and frankly boring story, as truthful and real as it may seem to be, drags its 89 minute running time to extraneous and unfair lengths. Like Crazy plays out like a hybrid of (500) Days of Summer and Going The Distance, but neither as funny, entertaining or insightful. If you want to see love in all different forms, go to a wedding. There’s more drama, more dancing, and free food.

2/5 Bears