Donald Glover gave all his fans a very pleasant surprise when he released his new album, “Donald Glover Presents” in the middle of the night. But what isn’t clear is whether the title means the rapper once known as Childish Gambino is making good on his promise to retire his famous alter ego.
The link to the new music, donaldgloverpresents.com, was first tweeted by a fan and later retweeted by the rapper’s management. It leads to what appears to be a work-in-progress sketch for the album’s cover which, when clicked on, plays 12 tracks that feature artists like 21 Savage and Ariana Grande. Some of the tracks are ones that Glover previously debuted, including his 2018 single “Feels Like Summer” and the opening track “Warlords,” which he first played at Coachella last year. The album is only officially available on the site and not on Spotify or any other streaming service.
At his performance at the 2017 Governor’s Ball, Glover announced that he would be retiring the Childish Gambino name, which he got from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator, after one more album. It was a decision he later expanded upon in an interview with Huffington Post.
“There’s nothing worst than like a third sequel, like a third movie and we’re like, ‘again?’” he said. “You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”
He continued, “Like I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things and I always had a reason to be punk. Being punk just always felt really good to me and we always looked at ‘Atlanta’ as a punk show and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore.”
This isn’t the first time Glover has surprised the music world with new trackers. In 2018, he released his smash hit “This Is America” and its accompanying music video in the middle of the live broadcast of an episode of “Saturday Night Live” he was hosting. The video became a viral hit and won four Grammys, making Glover the first hip-hop artist to win Record of the Year and Song of the Year.