Childish Gambino Surprises Chicago High School Kids At Chance The Rapper’s OpenMike Event

Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino treated fans with a surprise performance of "This Is America" at Chance The Rapper's OpenMike.

On Monday, June 11, Chano was in his hometown of Chicago for the graduation edition of his monthly collaborative youth performance series. The project, a joint effort by Chance The Rapper's SocialWorks and the Chicago Libraries, encourages young artists to share and express with like-minded individuals.

Childish Gambino Holds Surprise Concert For Kids In Chicago

The event on Monday night was obviously special and the rapper brought a special friend to further inspire young artists under the OpenMike project. In a video footage captured by an attendee, the 25-year-old rapper was speaking to the audience filled with high school students when the familiar intro of the chart-topping track started playing.

"My next guest needs no introduction," said Chance.

When the music started playing and when Gambino appeared onstage, the audience went crazy. Students stood up from their seats and headed to the stage to get a closer look at the rapper.

Childish Gambino performed "This Is America," his socially conscious new track that went viral with an equally woke music video. The track became so popular that it unseated Drake's "Nice For What" on top of the Billboard Hot 100 within just a week after its release.

The music video, directed by Hiro Murai, has been a subject of numerous online essays. It now has over 266 million views on YouTube.

The mini-concert took place at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago.

"The beauty of the OpenMikes are that Chance really leverages his celebrity for Chicago's youth," said Malcolm London, poet/musician/co-founder of OpenMike.

He also admitted that he did not know about Gambino's appearance until around 30 minutes before he hopped onstage.

"As far as I know, he just asked Gambino to come out. He was just sitting in the green room the entire time," London added.

OpenMike began back in 2015.

Chance The Rapper's Close Bond With Childish Gambino

Chance and Gambino have been friends for years now. Last year, Gambino said that a collaborative mixtape with Chance might happen, although, the two have not started work on the project as of yet.

They also previously appeared on the tracks, namely "They Don't Like Me" from Royalty, "Favorite Song" from Acid Rap, and "The Worst Guys" from the album Because The Internet.

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Chance The Rapper, Childish Gambino