WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 December 2nd, 2016. That date, I think, is when 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.219 the script just completely flipped. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:07.160 If you were into hip hop back then, you remember 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:10.400 it. You had childish Gambino Donald Glover coming 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.500 off this massive success with, because the internet. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.399 He was the witty punchline guy. Exactly. The 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:20.600 existential rapper. Yeah. The assumption was, 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.140 okay, for his third album, he's just going to 00:00:23.140 --> 00:00:25.320 double down on the bars. And instead you press 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:27.359 play and the first thing you hear is a scream. 00:00:27.539 --> 00:00:31.300 A literal scream. And then. Was it a glockenspiel? 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:33.299 A glockenspiel, yeah. And this heavy distorted 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:35.060 guitar, it sounds like it was pulled right out 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:37.880 of, you know, 1971. We are, of course, doing 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:41.399 a deep dive into Awaken My Love. It's been a 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:43.899 few years, but looking at the sources we've got 00:00:43.899 --> 00:00:46.020 here, production notes, the rollout, the reviews, 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.939 it's so clear this wasn't just another album. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.280 No, it felt like a career suicide mission that 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.159 somehow turned into a total resurrection. That 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:55.719 is a perfect way to frame it. And that's our 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:57.420 mission for this deep dive, right? To figure 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:59.799 out how he did it. It's more than just the sound. 00:00:59.899 --> 00:01:02.780 It's the whole methodology. How do you go from 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:06.219 Fruity Loops rap beats to recording live funk 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:09.079 that sounds like it was pressed on vinyl 40 years 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.180 ago? And we also have to get into the cost of 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:13.840 it all. The cosplay accusations from some critics 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.120 and, of course, the controversy around the cover 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:18.819 art. Yeah, that's still a lingering issue. Okay, 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:20.500 so let's start with what you call the great departure. 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:23.819 It's easy to just say, he stopped rapping, but 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:26.700 it's, uh, it's... so much deeper than that it's 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:29.579 a complete change in his musical vocabulary completely 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:32.200 well look at camp or because the internet the 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.900 music's engine was the lyricism the beat was 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:37.980 just there to carry the words on awaken my love 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:41.280 the engine is the groove it's all psychedelic 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:47.920 soul p funk rmb and glover's voice here it's 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.319 an instrument it's about texture not just rhymes 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.099 You mentioned the screaming at the top. For a 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:54.459 first -time listener, that's got to be the most 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.840 jarring part. Oh, for sure. The critics call 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.659 it a bold departure, which is, you know, polite 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:00.799 critics speak for what on earth is happening. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.140 He's really straining his voice. Whispering. 00:02:03.299 --> 00:02:07.120 Yes. All these wild inflections. It's straight 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.379 out of the George Clinton and Funkadelic playbook. 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:11.879 He isn't trying to sound pretty. He's trying 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:14.879 to sound effective in that very specific funk 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:17.180 world. OK, let's define that context for a second. 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:19.479 We keep throwing around P -Funk. So for anyone 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.300 who just knows Redbone from the radio, what are 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:25.389 we actually talking about? So P -Funk is basically 00:02:25.389 --> 00:02:28.389 the Parliament Funkadelic universe that George 00:02:28.389 --> 00:02:30.969 Clinton created in the 70s. It wasn't just funk 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:33.750 music. It was a whole mythology. Like Afrofuturism? 00:02:34.349 --> 00:02:37.169 Afrofuturism, psychedelia, sci -fi, all mixed 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:39.729 with these heavy, almost rock guitars and soulful 00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:42.430 harmonies. So when Rolling Stone called this 00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:44.990 album an enthralling trip, they were getting 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:47.490 it. He didn't just borrow a beat. He tried to 00:02:47.490 --> 00:02:50.229 recreate that whole chaotic atmosphere. It really 00:02:50.229 --> 00:02:51.889 is like a time machine. You listen to me and 00:02:51.889 --> 00:02:55.169 your mama. And you were just not in 2016 anymore. 00:02:55.349 --> 00:02:57.370 And that was completely intentional. What's amazing 00:02:57.370 --> 00:02:59.210 is that before we even got the music, he gave 00:02:59.210 --> 00:03:02.270 us the map. Ah, the rollout. He's almost better 00:03:02.270 --> 00:03:04.550 at marketing than he is at music sometimes. He's 00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:07.270 a master of it. And this whole thing was an exercise 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:10.250 in world building. So let's go back. June 17th, 00:03:10.250 --> 00:03:13.870 2016, he tweets a link. Just pharaohs .earth, 00:03:13.870 --> 00:03:16.449 right? That was it. And it wasn't a pre -save 00:03:16.449 --> 00:03:18.530 link. It was an app. And when you opened it, 00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:21.150 you were just... drifting in space exactly looking 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:24.069 at this little blue planet with a clock counting 00:03:24.069 --> 00:03:27.590 down it forced you to slow down to engage with 00:03:27.590 --> 00:03:30.490 this visual before you heard a single note so 00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:33.229 when the countdown finally hit zero the app crashes 00:03:33.229 --> 00:03:36.129 you down to earth and it puts you on a map in 00:03:36.129 --> 00:03:38.870 joshua tree california it was an invitation to 00:03:38.870 --> 00:03:41.169 a physical event the big concert experiences 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:44.050 yes you could buy tickets through the app for 00:03:44.050 --> 00:03:47.469 these shows in september 2016. this was almost 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:49.539 three months before they album dropped he debuted 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:51.520 the whole thing live in the middle of the desert 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.340 i mean talk about setting a mood and he leaned 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:55.990 right into it The reports from the show are wild. 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:58.469 Glover wearing glow -in -the -dark tribal paint 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:01.669 on his braids, a pink and yellow skirt. Wow. 00:04:01.889 --> 00:04:04.789 The whole band had a similar kind of tribal neon 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:07.250 vibe. So this is the moment when thousands of 00:04:07.250 --> 00:04:09.469 fans realized, wait a minute, he's not rapping. 00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:11.849 That's the tension. You've got all these kids 00:04:11.849 --> 00:04:14.330 in the desert who are probably expecting 3 ,005, 00:04:14.389 --> 00:04:18.009 and instead they get this 11 -song funk opera. 00:04:18.069 --> 00:04:20.790 It was a huge gamble. But he didn't leave everyone 00:04:20.790 --> 00:04:23.689 else out, did he? No. Later on, he updated the 00:04:23.689 --> 00:04:26.490 Pharos app. You could watch the performance of 00:04:26.490 --> 00:04:29.310 Me and Your Mama through a VR headset on your 00:04:29.310 --> 00:04:32.329 phone. Which is kind of ironic. A tech -forward 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:35.930 way to experience an album that sounds so deliberately 00:04:35.930 --> 00:04:39.610 anti -digital. Exactly. Which brings us to the 00:04:39.610 --> 00:04:41.949 production. To me, this is the most impressive 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:43.670 part. It just doesn't sound like it was made 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:46.329 on a laptop in 2016. Right, when everything sounded 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:48.269 like it was made on a laptop. This was the big 00:04:48.269 --> 00:04:50.829 technical pivot. It's still him and Ludwig Göransson, 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:53.310 his usual guy. But instead of being digital wizards, 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:55.430 they just... They stripped it all back. They 00:04:55.430 --> 00:04:58.029 went for total analog fidelity. The instrument 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:00.949 list in the liner notes is just wild. I'm seeing 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:04.129 glockenspiel bottles like literal glass bottles, 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:07.670 a cello banjo, harpsichord, a B3 organ. And that 00:05:07.670 --> 00:05:09.910 cello banjo is such a perfect example of the 00:05:09.910 --> 00:05:12.329 detail they went into. I got to ask, what does 00:05:12.329 --> 00:05:15.189 a cello banjo even bring to the table? It's all 00:05:15.189 --> 00:05:17.949 about the texture. It has a lower pitch, this 00:05:17.949 --> 00:05:20.569 kind of plunky resonance sound that you just 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:23.089 can't fake with a synth. It gives everything. 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.279 a muddy, organic, wooden feel. They wanted that 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:28.680 70s grit. And it wasn't just the instruments. 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.279 It was the voices, too. Right. They brought in 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.800 Brent Jones and the Best Life Singers. That gives 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:36.839 you that big, choral, communal feeling, which 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:39.620 was so central to the original P -Funk idea. 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.720 It's a village, not just one guy. So when you 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.389 hear an album that sounds this retro... the first 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:47.410 thing you assume is that it's just full of samples. 00:05:47.610 --> 00:05:49.589 That's the common assumption, and this is where 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:52.449 it gets really amazing. The album is almost entirely 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:55.730 original composition. Wait, seriously? Seriously. 00:05:55.870 --> 00:05:58.470 The only major sample on the whole record is 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:01.389 on the track Riot, which samples Funkadelic's 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:03.910 Good to Your Ear Hole. Everything else, Have 00:06:03.910 --> 00:06:05.810 Some Love, Boogeyman, all those grooves that 00:06:05.810 --> 00:06:08.189 sound like they were ripped from 1974. They made 00:06:08.189 --> 00:06:10.810 them from scratch. From scratch. Glover, Gernson, 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:13.910 and their team of musicians. I mean, that's incredibly 00:06:13.910 --> 00:06:15.850 difficult. It's so much harder to write a song 00:06:15.850 --> 00:06:18.889 that sounds like a classic than it is to just 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:21.689 sample one. It requires a level of music theory 00:06:21.689 --> 00:06:25.230 that, frankly, a lot of rappers don't have. They 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:27.790 studied that era so closely they were able to 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:30.230 basically manufacture a fake memory for the listener. 00:06:30.389 --> 00:06:32.709 So let's talk about the key tracks, Me and Your 00:06:32.709 --> 00:06:35.399 Mama. The lead single. It's really the thesis 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:37.800 statement for the album. It starts as a lullaby 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:39.720 and then that beat switch hits you and it's like, 00:06:39.779 --> 00:06:43.899 OK, abandon all expectations right now. And then, 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:46.339 of course, the monster hit Redbone. The breakout 00:06:46.339 --> 00:06:49.839 won a Grammy for best traditional R &B performance. 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:52.899 Think about that. Traditional. The Academy basically 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.779 said, yep, this rapper now fits in the canon 00:06:55.779 --> 00:06:58.560 of traditional soul. And that high pitched vocal. 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:01.139 It sounds like it's pitch shifted up, but it's 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:03.680 not. It's not. That's him singing in his head 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.420 voice, pushing his falsetto to its absolute limit. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.240 It gives the song that vulnerable, almost paranoid 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.620 feeling. Then there's terrified. A smoother cut. 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:14.100 A little more sinister, kind of prince -esque, 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.959 but still in that same analog world. Okay, we 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:18.680 have to talk about the visuals. The album cover. 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:21.060 If you see it once, you just never forget it. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:24.040 It is so striking. It's a photo by the creative 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.120 director Ibra Ak of the model Giannina Oteto. 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.670 The look on her face. It's like ecstasy and terror 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:33.310 all at once. Her eyes are rolled back. It's incredibly 00:07:33.310 --> 00:07:35.850 intense. And the headdress was designed by Laura 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:38.509 Wass. But what's really cool is if you were watching 00:07:38.509 --> 00:07:40.709 Glover's show Atlanta, you might have actually 00:07:40.709 --> 00:07:42.930 seen it before the album even came out. Oh, right. 00:07:43.050 --> 00:07:45.720 The Easter egg. Exactly. The artwork was just 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:47.860 sitting in the background in the Juneteenth episode. 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:50.600 He loves to cross pollinate his projects like 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:52.660 that. And the cover itself is another one of 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:55.220 those homages. A very direct one. It's a nod 00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:58.899 to the cover of Funkadelic's 1971 album Maggot 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.600 Brain, which has a woman screaming with her head 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.750 coming out of the dirt. But we can't really talk 00:08:03.750 --> 00:08:05.889 about the cover without getting into the controversy 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:08.370 that came out later. No, we can't. And it's a 00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:10.910 serious issue that really clashes with the whole 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:14.209 utopian community vibe of the music itself. So 00:08:14.209 --> 00:08:16.750 this is about the model, Jeannie Notato. What 00:08:16.750 --> 00:08:19.329 exactly happened? Well, years later, she came 00:08:19.329 --> 00:08:21.850 forward and accused Ibraak and the whole team 00:08:21.850 --> 00:08:24.670 of mistreatment over payment. She said she was 00:08:24.670 --> 00:08:27.689 paid very little for the shoot. Extremely low 00:08:27.689 --> 00:08:30.589 pay. and she says the promise was that they'd 00:08:30.589 --> 00:08:33.590 get residuals or royalties once the album blew 00:08:33.590 --> 00:08:36.330 up the classic do it for the exposure line basically 00:08:36.330 --> 00:08:39.269 and according to her that money never came she 00:08:39.269 --> 00:08:42.590 said it's been an exhausting emotional and overall 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:46.029 sad thing to deal with she felt really exploited 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:48.649 did she ever pursue legal action She said her 00:08:48.649 --> 00:08:51.269 lawyers tried to contact Gambino's team but were 00:08:51.269 --> 00:08:53.769 reportedly ignored. It's just, it's a really 00:08:53.769 --> 00:08:56.190 bitter footnote on such an iconic image. Yeah, 00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:58.450 it definitely complicates how you see that cover 00:08:58.450 --> 00:09:01.149 now. You see the art, but you can't unknow the 00:09:01.149 --> 00:09:03.330 allegations behind it. It makes you ask, can 00:09:03.330 --> 00:09:06.029 the art really be about community if the process 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:08.549 of making it wasn't? Shissing back to the reception. 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:13.250 The album drops. Fans are shocked. What did the 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:15.370 critics think? Was it a masterpiece or a mistake? 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:18.519 It was completely divisive, a total love it or 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:20.740 hate it situation. Let's start with the praise. 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:23.120 Okay, so you had the New York Times. They called 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.500 it both homage and parody. They thought he captured 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:28.059 the whole spirit of the 70s, the sensuality, 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:30.620 the politics, the humor. And The Guardian was 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:33.620 on board too. They called it a prog -tinged freak 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:37.480 funk opus. Rolling Stone loved it. The positive 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.840 reviews all basically respected the ambition, 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:42.700 the big swing he took. But not everyone was convinced. 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:46.220 No. The main criticism was about authenticity. 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:49.340 Vice was probably the harshest. They called it 00:09:49.340 --> 00:09:53.600 pure funkadelic cosplay. Ouch. Cosplay is a loaded 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.240 word. It implies he's just dressing up. And that 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.360 was the core of the critique. Is this a genuine 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:01.559 expression or is Donald Glover, the actor, just 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:04.500 playing the role of a 70s funk singer? Pitchfork 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:06.820 questioned if it was just mimicry. Even Robert 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:09.340 Criscow, the dean of American rock critics, had 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:11.399 an opinion. Yeah, he called it overrated and 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.519 romantic P -funk rec show. So you have this huge 00:10:14.519 --> 00:10:17.240 divide. Is it a brilliant tribute or is it just 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.440 a hollow imitation? But despite what the critics 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.980 were arguing about, the audience seemed to love 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:24.779 it. They did. Commercially, it was a big success. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:27.000 Debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.679 went platinum. And the awards followed. Well, 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:32.500 Redbone was the awards magnet. It won the Grammy. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:35.639 And the album itself got nominated for Album 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:38.059 of the Year. So the Recording Academy, at least, 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:41.100 saw it as a legitimate and important R &B record. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.539 So why do you think it connected so deeply with 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:45.700 the audience, even when some critics were so 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:48.799 skeptical? I think for a lot of Glover's younger 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:52.419 fans, millennials, Gen Z, this was their first 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:54.940 real exposure to this kind of funk. They'd never 00:10:54.940 --> 00:10:57.960 listened to Maggot Brain. Exactly. So to them, 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.820 this sound was new and original. Glover was the 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:04.500 bridge translating 1970s analog soul for a 2016 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:08.299 digital audience. So when you zoom out, we started 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:10.750 with a punchline rapper. And we ended with a 00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:13.269 Grammy -winning funk singer. It's a story of 00:11:13.269 --> 00:11:15.710 total reinvention. He looked at what everyone 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:18.210 expected him to do, make another rap album, and 00:11:18.210 --> 00:11:20.730 he just did the absolute opposite. It's all about 00:11:20.730 --> 00:11:23.009 expectation, isn't it? If he had dropped a mediocre 00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:25.269 rap album, people might have just shrugged. But 00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:27.570 because he tried something this hard, he forced 00:11:27.570 --> 00:11:30.250 everyone to listen differently. And that tension 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:32.230 we talked about, imitation versus innovation, 00:11:32.570 --> 00:11:35.740 that really is the album's legacy. It is derivative. 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:39.059 It sounds just like the 70s, but it was presented 00:11:39.059 --> 00:11:40.639 to an audience who had never heard that before. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.419 And the fact that they built it all from the 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:45.820 ground up with real instruments. Yeah. That feels 00:11:45.820 --> 00:11:47.960 like the innovation part. It wasn't lazy. It 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.139 was a reconstruction, a very heartfelt one, even 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:52.200 if the business side of the cover art makes that 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:54.259 whole love and community message a little more 00:11:54.259 --> 00:11:56.779 complicated. It's a complex legacy for a very 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.559 complex album. So here's a final thought for 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.419 you to chew on as you go about your day. We always 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:05.279 say we want artists to evolve. Right. But when 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:07.960 an artist completely changes lanes like this, 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:10.919 do we judge them on how well they pull off the 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.600 new style? Or do we kind of penalize them for 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.240 leaving the old one behind? And to add to that, 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.879 thinking about the payment controversy, how do 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.700 we square the utopian spirit of the music, the 00:12:21.700 --> 00:12:24.860 choirs, the stay woke message with the cold business 00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:27.960 reality behind the curtain? Can the art truly 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.940 be utopian if the process wasn't? Heavy questions. 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:34.879 for a very funky album. Go listen to Redbone 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.139 again. Maybe you'll hear it a little differently 00:12:37.139 --> 00:12:39.179 this time. Thanks for diving in with us. Thank 00:12:39.179 --> 00:12:39.340 you.