History YMMV / ChildishGambino

** "This Is America" isn't exactly subtle, but plenty of people do agree with it's message.

** While "Feels Like Summer" has a largely straightforward GreenAesop, a certain section of video has led to a lot of interpretations; namely, the brief section showing an unidentified man in a suit sitting on a bench eating vanilla and chocolate ice cream, which he puts down as it starts melting shortly after. Postulated identities for the man in the suit are usually Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr., OJ Simpson, or Andrew Gillum (the Democratic candidate during the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election), whereas the melting ice cream is usually seen as symbolizing either the deterioration or mending of race relations between blacks and whites, or the death of [[Music/XXXTentacion]] (the ice cream's coloration resembles his signature hairstyle). Typically, the Gillum/[=XXXTentacion=] theory is the interpretation most follow, though nothing is for sure (especially as Gillum only started receiving significant attention about a week before the video's release, which would make it tricky to dedicate a section to him due to AnimationLeadime).

* EpilepticTrees: Almost everyone has their own interpretation about the video for "This is America". There are those who think its about the gun violence epidemic. That its about racism and how its ignored. That its about how great tragedies are common and easily forgotten. How Americans ignore the world around them. Some see it as a TakeThat to the black artists singing about their money and their stuff while ignoring, or even causing, the suffering of black communities, basically accusing them of UncleTomfoolery. There are also a lot of people who say its all the above and more. Thats just for the overall message.

** The choir-like sections of "This is America".

* EightPointEight: The masters of this trope, Pitchfork, gave ''Camp'' probably its lowest professional review (1.6). Rather appropriate, since at least one song on the album makes fun of Pitchfork.
** Likewise, ''WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop'' gave it a similarly oddly extreme rating of [=2/10=], lower than Chief Keef's album. The comments on the video are pretty entertaining.

** Although "Redbone" is generally SweetDreamsFuel, the chorus is [[MoodWhiplash very unsettling.]] ''[[ParanoiaFuel Stay woke / Niggas' creepin' / They gon' find you ]][[SlainInTheirSleep / Gon' catch you sleepin']]''

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[AwesomeMusic/ChildishGambino See here.]]

* MostWonderfulSound:

-->He said I wasn't black because I had a dad
-->...I think that's kinda sad

* SweetDreamsFuel:

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Admit it, the ending of "Telegraph Ave" did look pretty good.

** Pretty much all of "This is America".

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video, claiming that doing so only proves its point, and that it's ''too important and serious'' to be memed. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice, and counterarguments about how trying to shame internet users into not doing something will ensure that they'll do it anyway. [[FountainOfMemes It didn't help that damn near every single frame of the music video was a meme goldmine already]].[[/labelnote]]

** Bino's dancing in the "Sober" video.

* MostWonderfulSound:
** Jhene Aiko's singing on "Pink Toes", as well as her heavenly harmonization before her verse.
** The xylophone riff in "Kids". Hell, that whole song could qualify as this.
** Bino's otherworldly screaming throughout ''"Awaken, My Love!"''.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: The video for "This is America" became viral on the internet due to its content and allegories, and also because of the advice to not make memes out of it only fueling further meme making.

* MostWonderfulSound:
** Jhene Aiko's singing on "Pink Toes", as well as her heavenly harmonization before her verse.
** The xylophone riff in "Kids". Hell, that whole song could qualify as this.
** Bino's otherworldly screaming throughout ''"Awaken, My Love!"''.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: The video for "This is America" became viral on the internet due to its content and allegories.

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video, claiming that doing so only proves its point, and that it's ''too important and serious'' to be memed. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice, and counterarguments about how trying to shame internet users into not doing something will ensure that they'll do it anyway.[[/labelnote]]

* EpilepticTrees: Almost everyone has their own interpretation about the video for "This is America". There are those who think its about the gun violence epidemic. That its about racism and how its ignored. That its about how great tragedies are common and easily forgotten. How Americans ignore the world around them. Some even see it as a TakeThat to the rappers singing about their money and their stuff while ignoring, or even causing, the suffering of black communities even accusing them of UncleTomfoolery. There are also a lot of people who say its all the above and more.

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video, claiming that doing so only proves its point. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice, and counterarguments about how trying to shame internet users into not doing something will ensure that they'll do it anyway.[[/labelnote]]

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video, claiming that doing so only proves its point that. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice, and counterarguments about how trying to shame internet users into not doing something will ensure that they'll do it anyway.[[/labelnote]]

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video, claiming that doing so only proves its point. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice.[[/labelnote]]

** Making memes of the "This Is America" music video just for the sake of it.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Vice (alongside various Twitter users) attempted to shame internetgoers into not memeing the video. Cure scores of This Is America memes made purely to spite Vice.[[/labelnote]]

* NightmareFuel:

*** The ''BTI'' lenticular cover GIF will easily scare anyone the first time they see it, with Bino's face getting distorted to indistinguishable extents before returning to normal. Even scarier is how if you see the cover online, [[ParanoiaFuel you don't know if it's a still image or a GIF]]...

* FridgeBrilliance: The non-album track "Yaphet Kotto" samples "One Tender Moment." What band is that song by? ''Manchild.''
** "Sweatpants," which is essentially [[{{Troll}} The Boy]]'s theme song and sums up his attitude toward life, features an up-and-coming rapper named [[http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/9/8/8/4/3/a5171348-213-Troll-face-problem.jpg?d=1348177286 Problem.]]
** The name of "Pink Toes", a song in which we see The Boy's life [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster after he becomes a drug dealer]]; according to the Urban Dictionary, "pink toe" is slang for a young white girl. "White girl" is itself slang for cocaine.

* CrazyAwesome: Bino's dancing in the "Sober" video. Bino in general in that video.
* CreatorBreakdown: A lot of people think he's had one while working on ''Because the Internet'', due to his demeanor in interviews, quitting {{Series/Community}}, and posting a rather disturbing post on Instagram containing his biggest fears.
** Not to mention how he's "blacked out" his social media accounts, except his Facebook and Soundcloud. Even his websites ("childishgambino.com", "iamdonald.com", and even "becausetheinter.net") have been "blacked out". Whether this is because of the implied breakdown leading to his ReclusiveArtist aspect or is a part of the idea of ''because the internet'''s theme, is unknown.
* CriticalDissonance: A weird example. At the beginning of his career, critics generally liked him while the musical community considered him a joke rapper for people who didn't really take hip-hop seriously. Now it's the reverse- ''because the internet'' was the subject of huge excitement following its release (even reaching #4 on [[http://rapgenius.com/Rap-genius-top-20-rap-albums-of-2013-annotated the annual RapGenius best-of-the-year poll]]), but was received with a shrug by critics. ''"Awaken, My Love!"'' seems to have finally achieved both critical and commercial acclaim, being his highest charting album to date.

** "Redbone" has a TameImpala style guitar instrumental with bends and slides closing it out.

* CriticalDissonance: A weird example. At the beginning of his career, critics generally liked him while the musical community considered him a joke rapper for people who didn't really take hip-hop seriously. Now it's the reverse- ''because the internet'' was the subject of huge excitement following its release (even reaching #4 on [[http://rapgenius.com/Rap-genius-top-20-rap-albums-of-2013-annotated the annual RapGenius best-of-the-year poll]]), but was received with a shrug by critics. ''"Awaken, My Love!"'' seems to have finally achieved but critical and commercial acclaim, being his highest charting album to date.