Royalty (Childish Gambino album)

Royalty
Mixtape by Childish Gambino
Released July 4, 2012
Genre Hip hop
Length 59:19
Label Glassnote
Producer Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson, Beck, Blake Griffin, Boi-1da, The Maven Boys, Jordan Evans, SKYWLKR, Myke Murda, Matthew Burnett
Childish Gambino chronology
Camp
(2011)		 R O Y A L T Y
(2012)		 Because the Internet
(2013)

Royalty (stylized as R O Y A L T Y) is the sixth mixtape by American recording artist Donald Glover, better known as Childish Gambino; it was released on July 4, 2012. The album has many featured artists and is produced by Glover and his co-producer Ludwig Goransson, as well as Beck, Boi-1da and SKYWLKR. This is notably different from how Glover operates on other projects, as he has been known to not work with other artists much in his music.

Background

Although released on July 4, 2012, Glover announced the mixtape in January.[1] After the announcement, there were various releases by Glover, including "Fuck Your Blog," that were not on the mixtape. Two other songs released since Royalty's announcement that are not included are "Eat Your Vegetables", released on April 2 through his website,[2] and "Tell Me" featuring Himanshu Suri, better known as Heems of Das Racist, on the radio show "Chillin' Island". "Tell Me" was later released on Suri's mixtape Wild Water Kingdom.

Glover has stated that he had recorded 25 songs for the mixtape. On May 14, Funkmaster Flex premiered "Unnecessary", featuring Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. On May 16, Glover released "We Ain't Them", produced by himself and frequent collaborator Ludwig. On May 26, Glover released another track, "Black Faces", through his website, featuring Nipsey Hussle and produced by Boi-1da. On May 30, he released a third track through his website which he named "Silk Pillow" (via his Twitter account), featuring Beck and produced by both Glover and Beck.

On July 3, 2012, Glover released the cover of the mixtape via Instagram and his Twitter account.[3] The same day he released the track list via Twitter[4]

Composition

The song "R.I.P" samples the song Nightcall originally by French artist Kavinsky. The beat and hook from "Toxic" is sampled from "Toxic" by Britney Spears. The song "They Don't Like Me" samples the song "Oh, I Think They Like Me" by Dem Franchize Boyz. The backing loop in "Bronchitis" uses a sample from "Hot Boxing the Cockpit" by Shlohmo and the song "American Royalty" samples "War" as performed by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Critical reception

Consequence of Sound's Chris Coplan gave the mixtape three out of five stars and found it "light on the punch lines, heavy on the swag, and an overall mighty declaration of newfound skill and confidence despite a few missteps" such as "lazy sing-talking".[5] Corban Goble of Stereogum complimented the guest rappers and observed "a surprising amount of quality and variety for a free mixtape."[6] Giving it a score of 8.3 out of 10, Adam Vitcavage of Paste praised Gambino's wordplay and cited the mixtape as "easily his most ambitious and controversial [release] yet."[7] Although he felt it lacks the "sincerity and unique nature of Camp", Jason Gardner of AbsolutePunk rated the mixtape a 78% and wrote that "the rough and tumble beats and much less punchline-glazed lyricism make this mixtape a worthwhile experience both for creator and listener."[8]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "R O Y A L T Y"  Blake GriffinBlake Griffin 0:09
2. "We Ain't Them"  Donald Glover, Ludwig GoranssonChildish Gambino, Ludwig Goransson 3:13
3. "One Up" (featuring Steve G. Lover)Glover, Stevie GivenchyChildish Gambino 2:31
4. "Black Faces" (featuring Nipsey Hussle)Glover, Ermias Asghedom, Matthew Samuels, Zale Epstein, Brett KrugerBoi-1da, The Maven Boys 3:29
5. "Unnecessary" (featuring Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul)Glover, Quincy Hanley, Herbert StevensChildish Gambino 3:41
6. "Shoulda Known"  GloverChildish Gambino 4:27
7. "R.I.P" (featuring Bun B)Glover, Bernard Freeman, Vincent BelorgeyKavinsky, Childish Gambino 3:54
8. "American Royalty" (featuring RZA and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)Glover, Robert DiggsChildish Gambino 3:34
9. "It May Be Glamour Life" (featuring Ghostface Killah)Glover, Dennis Coles, Myke StalloneMyke Murda 1:36
10. "Toxic" (featuring Danny Brown)Glover, Daniel Sewell, Christian Karlsson, Pontus WinnbergSKYWLKR, Bloodshy & Avant 2:48
11. "Silk Pillow" (featuring Beck)Glover, Beck HansenBeck, Childish Gambino 4:10
12. "They Don't Like Me" (featuring Chance the Rapper)Glover, Chancelor BennettSKYWLKR 2:14
13. "Arrangement" (featuring Gonage)Glover, GoranssonChildish Gambino 4:34
14. "Won't Stop" (featuring Danielle Haim of Haim)Glover, Goransson, Danielle HaimChildish Gambino, Ludwig Goransson 3:07
15. "Bronchitis"  Glover, HansenBeck 3:02
16. "Wonderful" (featuring Josh Osho)Glover, Samuels, Josh OshoBoi-1da, Jordan Evans (co.), Matthew Burnett (co.) 2:34
17. "Make It Go Right" (featuring Kilo Kish)Glover, Lakisha RobinsonChildish Gambino 4:24
18. "Real Estate" (featuring Alley Boy, Swank and Tina Fey)Glover, Curt Freeman, Jo Swank, Tina FeyChildish Gambino 5:52

References

  1. ↑ "Mixtape Coming Soon". iamdonald.com. 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
  2. ↑ "Eat Your Vegetables". iamdonald.com. 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  3. ↑ "Royalty Cover". Twitter. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  4. ↑ "Royalty Track Listing". Twitter. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  5. ↑ Coplan, Chris (July 11, 2012). "Album Review: Childish Gambino – Royalty Mixtape". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ Goble, Corban (July 11, 2012). "Mixtape Of The Week: Childish Gambino Royalty". Stereogum. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  7. ↑ Vitcavage, Adam (July 10, 2012). "Childish Gambino: Royalty". Paste. Decatur. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  8. ↑ Gardner, Jason (July 10, 2012). "Childish Gambino - Royalty". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
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