Multi hyphenate Donald Glover, better known as Childish Gambino, appeared onstage alongside fellow rapper Tyler, the Creator at his Coachella set this weekend. He performed "Time" off of his last full length release, 2020's 3.15.20, and participated in some hearty banter with the IGOR rapper.
Tyler chided that he "used to hate" Glover until he heard the song "Urn," which made him wonder how something could be so good when it was made by someone he hated so much.
Now, Glover is in the midst of his musical comeback of his own.
On April 14, Glover posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he would be hosting a "GILGA Radio" livestream on his Instagram. A fan responded to the post asking bluntly, "Music??"
"Of course. its a rollout dummy," responded the rapper.
Glover has teased fans with the supposed end of the Childish Gambino era for over five years now. In 2017, he told a crowd at New York City's Governor's Ball that he would "see you for the last Gambino album." The following year he doubled down on the idea, saying that he "like[s] endings, I think they're important to progress."
Glover went on to release the hit single, "This is America" in 2018; he also dropped a Summer Pack EP that same year.
In 2020, he released 3.15.20, which some mused would be the final Childish Gambino album, but this Saturday's live stream showed otherwise.
During the Instagram live, he played new music, including a jammy, untitled track that features Glover's voice floating across soft drums. In a clip posted to X, Glover raps,
"A billion streams but can't sell an arena?/Nauh, I couldn't be em!/The New stadium lights my name in bright neon." The video ends with the soft echoes of "La, la, la, la/Put your hands up high/La, la, la, la/In the sky for me."
While livestreaming, Glover announced that he would be dropping two more projects: Atavista and Bando Stone & the New World.
Bando Stone & the New World will be the final Childish Gambino album. He referred to the record as a "soundtrack for the fans." It will release later this summer, but no specific date has been announced. Bando Stone & the New World will also be a soundtrack for a homonymous film.
Before Bando Stone & the New World, Glover will drop Atavista. He previously teased the album and its eleven-song tracklist on Instagram. In March, he posted a screenshot revealing the project's name and track titles.
Atavista is set to be a "finished" version of 3.15.20.
"The project I put out, '3.15.20', that no one's ever heard of, people didn't even know I put it out, it was originally titled 'Atavista,' it was supposed to be 'Atavista," he explained.
Atavista is set to arrive "soon," but soon is an ambiguous term for Glover. Back in December, the rapper said that new music was coming "soon." A few months prior, he promised that "Something will happen" soon.
