Kauai By Childish Gambino Review

Hey, what’s going on guys?  I’m reviewing Gambino’s new album/EP/project “Kauai”.  The review for the other project he dropped might be a joint review with someone special, but we will see.

Kauai – Childish Gambino

I was so excited for this and the other project to come out ever since Gambino announced them. I guess you could call this an EP and “STN MTN” a mixtape, I don’t know. This is the softer one of the two as was expected. So let’s get into this.

Sober

This was the first song that he released from this project. At first I was really not feeling this song, but the more I listened to it the more I liked it. It’s a somewhat different Gambino song. It’s still a kinda sad song, about breaking up and about how he will never be sober because of said break up, but it still sounds upbeat. He doesn’t even rap in this song and it still sounds dope.

My favorite part of this song is the part where the beat just drops out of nowhere. I feel like he could have rapped a quick verse over it, but it is still dope. It definitely adds to the song.

Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good) feat Jaden Smith

This is another upbeat, good vibes song. This is a song about him and his love and just stuff about them.  The beat is dope as well. This is a really catchy song.

Another reason I was stoked for this project was because I saw that Jaden Smith was going to be on it. Jaden Smith is quite the character. He tweets the weirdest things and just does a bunch of weird stuff. I heard one of his rap songs and I really wasn’t impressed but I was excited to see what he would do on this project. So what does he do on this track? All he does is a spoken word bit at the end and I’m honestly kind of disappointed.

Retro [Rough]

This beat is from one of his first mixtapes and I am so stoked that he brought it back. He pretty much reuses the hook just changes out a word or two. Gambino really goes in on this song. Two really good verses.

What I find interesting is that he says that he’s the new Jay-Z and that he’s going to steal the crown. I think that in this day and age, he has the potential to be that, because we are in a different time than when Jay-Z was in his prime. Don’t get me wrong, Jay-Z is still one of the best of all times, but all I’m saying is that Gambino has the potential to be like that. I don’t know, it’s all opinion based of course.

The Palisades feat Christian Rich

This is another one of those hella catchy songs that also gives you good vibes.  The song sounds dope. It’s another love song, although kind of different. On one side he has his love for her and on the other side there is his fear of commitment and things not working out. You can say that this is just a purely love song about his love to her but the fact that he the hook is “Love don’t really happen” repeated 4 times proves otherwise. He also tells her that if they don’t work out that she should tell her friends to call him.

Poke feat Steve G. Lover

This song has a hella intense opening. Gambino talks about a connection he had with a girl during the summer and how special it was to him.  The hook is also alright. The real gem of this song and the focus of this song is Steve G’s verse. This might be my favorite verse of this project. His delivery and lines are just on point. 

The beat is also really good and interesting.

Late Night In Kauai feat Jaden Smith

This is the other song with Jaden Smith in it and he does pretty much the same thing he did in the other song he is in. The story he tells on this reminds me kind of the speech from Gambino’s camp.  I don’t know I still kinda wish that he rapped a verse.

Gambino’s verse is good. I mean it kind of just sounds like a normal Gambino verse, but I think it’s because of the beat and the fact that it is sandwiched between two spoken word things. I really like the lines:

            “I was smoking, smoking John Lennon,

              Where my Yoko?”

I think those are dope lines. He’s basically saying that he was smoking weed and looking for his love. It’s well known that Gambino loves Asian women and Yoko Ono is Asian.

After Gambino’s verse Fam starts his spoken word thing and he basically talks about how Jaden Smith was being real, but people won’t believe that because it’s Jaden Smith and that he wants to change the lives of the people around him and be remembered when he’s dead.

Verdict

I know that there is a remix of 3005 that I didn’t review, but it doesn’t really have any lyrics or anything besides the hook. I like it thought, it sounds dope.

The things I liked about this project are that it’s not hella long and dragged out, the beats are superb and the subject matter is interesting. All the verses are really good and it gives you a lot of good vibes.

The only real negative that I have is that Jaden Smith didn’t drop a real verse, but whatever. It’s really not that big of a deal.

I’m going to give this project a 10/10, because I really enjoyed it. I understand what Gambino was doing with the two projects. They go together like Ying and Yang.  “STN MTN” is raw and aggressive and “Kauai” is calmer and more intimate.