Donald Glover, known to most within the music community by his Grammy-nominated rap persona, Childish Gambino, went on the Today Show this morning to discuss the brand new film he stars in, The Lazarus Effect. Towards the end, the subject of his music career was broached and he was quite honest about the future of his music career, and Childish Gambino specifically, commenting, "I feel like Childish Gambino is a period that should come to a close," noting "I like endings."
He makes it clear he does not want to quit music, to the contrary, he reflects "I always want to do music, I love music..... and I want to produce." He puts the comment in context artistically, by saying that Childish Gambino is a period in his art timeline and he wants to have definitive periods in his life. Watch the interview below.
This could signal the end of Childish Gambino as an alias, but it won't mean the end of Donald Glover as a musical force. He could still rap under a different name and as he said, probably still will produce beats for others. It isn't too surprising for someone who is constantly evolving as an artist, with his latest venture the big screen and major films.
Stepping away from music, Glover is starring in three upcoming films (The Lazarus Effect, Magic Mike XXL, and The Martian), and he is executive-producing/writing/starring in FX's new comedy Atlanta.
He recently spoke to Billboard about his creative process for every aspect of his life and how they are all connected.
"I have my studio there, a whiteboard with the Atlanta scripts, a canvas for painting and all my albums and DJ equipment," he told them. "I wake up every morning and I start grabbing things - spray-painting the walls, recording, writing. They're all connected for me. It's all about trying to get to the bottom of what being a human is."
With this mindset, it is unlikely we have heard the last of Glover as a musician.
