I have just really got in to it in the past week. I don't usually care about modern music - but this shit is deep and its great. I started listening to Redbone a month ago (I know was I under a fucking rock or what?) and wanted some more of this Childish Gambino dude and put on Me and your Mama and I was like "WHAT THE FUCK" this shit was blowing my mind, it was the feeling I got when I really heard Prince for the first time. So I listen to the whole album on Youtube and after hearing it in its entirelty, I decide I need to buy it, that was Saturday and I have barely stopped listening to it since.

.

There is not one crappy track on me, it is funky, groovy and amazing all in one. Redbone is pure Prince and Me and You Mama is Funkadelic along with Boogieman. Stand Tall is Stevie meets Sly even with a bit of the "Ye" (Roses). Then I read Gambino (Donald Glover) raps, writes, produces, has a TV show out and does all this other shit. This is Prince level greatness here.

.

It is obsessed me to a point - I was at an aquarium watching some sharks being fed (One of these cool walk through the sea in a clear tunnel place, with big ass sharks and rays floating above you) and while the guides are talking and these cats are feeding the sharks, everyone is pointing and oohing and aahing, you can hear me singing "Have some love for one another"

.

2 Questions here to answer.

1. Has any other album by a "New" artist zapped your synapses in the past year or 2 (As I know this thread would be more relevant if it was a year ago). If so tell us and who it is. By new artist I mean someone who had been on the scene after 2000 only and preferably in the 2010s.

2. What do you think of this album and Childish Gambino as I know he divides people - some think he is a genius, others just think its a Prince/Bootsy Collins rip off with auto tune. I am interested in your opinions being fans of Prince and all. And it is probably because I am a huge fan of Prince and 70s/80s soul and funk, that I love this stuff and rocking this album all the time. I am 41 but reacting to this shit like I am 14.

I know where you're coming from, I'm basically the same. I don't buy lot of new releases, not so much because I think new music is total garbage, but because I simply do not have the time to go "digging" like I used to 20 or 30 years ago, so much of the new releases are simply under my radar. however, for the first time in ages I own three out of five albums that are actually Grammy nominated for album of the year, and in my book "Awaken, My Love" tops all of them.
when it came out I was puzzled, I had the CD in my car 24x7 for many weeks. and sure, we have heard all of those sounds before.... but so what??

so yes, this is also my fave album in quite a while (I'd estimate since "Black Messiah"), no doubt. I am 52 but reacting to this shit like I am 25

[Edited 12/5/17 0:42am]

Adorecream said:

1. Has any other album by a "New" artist zapped your synapses in the past year or 2 (As I know this thread would be more relevant if it was a year ago). If so tell us and who it is. By new artist I mean someone who had been on the scene after 2000 only and preferably in the 2010s.

I can think of a few.

Choose Your Weapon -- Hiatus Kaiyote (2015): For my the best album of the decade. HK's sophomore effort may be looked at as a masterpiece in decades to come. It's a genre-bending tour de force.

Yes Lawd! -- NxWorries (2016): A forward thinking rhythm and blues record from Anderson .Paak and Knxlwledge. As groovy and grimy as the blues records of old from some millenial talents.

Malibu - Anderson .Paak (2016): Much more in the pop/modern r&b vein but still authentic and inventive.

Drunk -- Thundercat (2017): Two Words -- "Them Changes." That song hits home.

2. What do you think of this album and Childish Gambino as I know he divides people - some think he is a genius, others just think its a Prince/Bootsy Collins rip off with auto tune. I am interested in your opinions being fans of Prince and all. And it is probably because I am a huge fan of Prince and 70s/80s soul and funk, that I love this stuff and rocking this album all the time. I am 41 but reacting to this shit like I am 14.

It's cool you connect on that level with it. I connect with Choose Your Weapon that way. I still think his first album, Camp, is better, but I'm glad CG is branching out, and I think the influences are prominent but the album is still "his" not "theirs" so to speak.

[Edited 12/5/17 13:11pm]

[Edited 12/5/17 13:15pm]

namepeace said:

Drunk -- Thundercat (2017): Two Words -- "Them Changes." That song hits home.

[Edited 12/5/17 13:11pm]

[Edited 12/5/17 13:15pm]

This was an unexpected surprise to me.

Many times in the album I can relate "Friend Zone" "Captain Stupido". It speaks to the male experience of feeling indifferent, insecurities, single life and the things we do to feel "normal". The lyrics are not poetic, but come out as actual thoughts all men have from time to time...and then this dude goes and brings out Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald out for a slow jam....duuudee...

I feel weird
Comb your beard, brush your teeth
Still feel weird
Beat your meat, go to sleep

----

It was premeditated, tried to get someone pregnant
It wasn't her fault, I'm just kind of psychotic
Left on my own, I would never come back
I'd probably hide in the suicide forest (Shit!)
This all started when I was a boy
I went to the dentist and he gave me a toy
It was Dragon Ball Z, a wrist-slap bracelet
Goku fucking ruined me

-----

Because I'd rather play Mortal Kombat anyway, hey
I'm all about my Johnny Cage
If you're not bringing tacos I suggest you start to walk away
Bitch don't kill my vibe
I can tell you've kinda got uncomfortable
So let me break it down for you
Don't call me, don't text me, after 2am
Unless you plan on giving me some
Cause I got enough friends

paisleypark4 said:

namepeace said:

[Edited 12/5/17 13:11pm]

[Edited 12/5/17 13:15pm]

This was an unexpected surprise to me.

Many times in the album I can relate "Friend Zone" "Captain Stupido". It speaks to the male experience of feeling indifferent, insecurities, single life and the things we do to feel "normal". The lyrics are not poetic, but come out as actual thoughts all men have from time to time...and then this dude goes and brings out Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald out for a slow jam....duuudee...

I feel weird
Comb your beard, brush your teeth
Still feel weird
Beat your meat, go to sleep

----

It was premeditated, tried to get someone pregnant
It wasn't her fault, I'm just kind of psychotic
Left on my own, I would never come back
I'd probably hide in the ...st (Shit!)
This all started when I was a boy
I went to the dentist and he gave me a toy
It was Dragon Ball Z, a wrist-slap bracelet
Goku fucking ruined me

-----

Because I'd rather play Mortal Kombat anyway, hey
I'm all about my Johnny Cage
If you're not bringing ta... walk away
Bitch don't kill my vibe
I can tell you've kinda got uncomfortable
So let me break it down for you
Don't call me, don't text me, after 2am
Unless you plan on giving me some
Cause I got enough friends

That was the first track I was drawn to, because I know that feeling. But "Them Changes" is intimate and visceral portrait of heartbreak that also captures the grandiose self-pity of the rejected.

I can't get enough of it.

Good replies guys - glad to know I am not the only one. The middle age guy who occasionally gets excited about some new music. I agree that CG does copy a lot off Prince and others - but who dosen't, a lot of Prince sounds likeSly Stone, Funkadelic, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and Stevie along with many others. But he has his own sound and I think CG has his own touches, all the autotune, loops and Ludwig's touches - yet he has a soulful and funky album, streets ahead of todays music.

.

He also has a real good Prince soul scream - Baby Boy for instance and I also feel some TTD and Lenny Kravitz coming through - plus there is a slight horror feel too with Zombies and Terrified - both are great. It is really a musical gumbo of influences that I just love.