美国国家公共电台 NPR Childish Gambino's New Album Is A Funky Left Turn

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Maybe you know comedian¹ and rapper Donald Glover from his roles on TV shows like "Community" and "30 Rock."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "COMMUNITY")

DONALD GLOVER: (As Troy Barnes) Cookie Crisp mascot³ wasn't a wizard when I was a kid. It was a burglar.

CORNISH: Or perhaps you've caught his new hit show on FX, "Atlanta." He's the creator and star.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ATLANTA")

GLOVER: (As Earnest Marks) I love it. Was is that, curry⁴?

ZAZIE BEETZ: (As Van) Are you kidding (laughter)?

GLOVER: (As Earnest Marks) It's like a very deep curry.

BEETZ: (As Van) That is not - that's...

CORNISH: But right now, we're going to talk about his musical alter ego⁵, Childish Gambino.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "3005")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Rapping) I mean it, between us I think there's something special. And if I lose my mental, just hold my hand even if you don't understand. Hold up.

CORNISH: Glover recently released his third Childish Gambino album. It's called "Awaken⁶, My Love!" Reviewer Tom Moon says even if you know Glover's work, this album will surprise you.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDISH GAMBINO SONG, "REDBONE")

TOM MOON, BYLINE⁷: For his latest project, Donald Glover transformed a house in the Hollywood Hills into a multi-purpose creative headquarters. By day, he and a team of writers developed scripts for his TV show "Atlanta." Then at night, the Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson and other musicians would join Glover for marathon explorations of psychedelic soul.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REDBONE")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Singing) Too late, you want to make it right, but now it's too late. My peanut butter chocolate cake with Kool-Aid, I'm trying not to waste my time.

MOON: Out of that cauldron comes a head-swiveling left turn, a Childish Gambino makeover. There's very little of his high-speed 10-ideas-per-minute rap style. In its place, deep old-school backbeats and wildly passionate⁸ singing, think Prince, Sly and the Family Stone and especially Funkadelic. It's thrillingly alive music, not some sort of studied throwback.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOOGIEMAN")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Singing) With a gun in your hand, I'm the boogieman. I'm going to come and get you. If you point a gun at my rising sun, though we're not the one...

MOON: Some tracks feature a full band. Others are layered studio creations. It's all loose and off-the-cuff, a jam session laced with calls to unity² and occasionally profound observations about inequality, race and fear.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOOGIEMAN")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Singing) But if he's scared of me, how can we be free? Yes. Boogieman, yes, you've got to help us. Can you? Yes, you can, oh. Boogieman, you've got help us, can you? Yes, you can...

MOON: Since he first appeared, Donald Glover's aligned⁹ himself with hip-hop culture. With this project, he's changing camps, shifting his emphasis from brainy wordplay to elaborately textured¹⁰ updates of '70s funk. From the freaky bone-rattling bass¹¹ right up to the falsetto vocals¹², "Awaken, My Love!" celebrates the kind of groove-making that can free your mind.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ME AND YOUR MAMA")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Singing) I'm in love when we are smoking that la, la-la, la-la, la-la. I'm in love when we are smoking that...

CORNISH: Donald Glover is Childish Gambino. His latest album is called "Awaken, My Love!" Our reviewer is Tom Moon.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ME AND YOUR MAMA")

CHILDISH GAMBINO: (Singing) I'm in love when we are smoking that la, la-la, la-la, la-la...

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

4 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

5 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

6 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

9 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

10 textured   

adj.手摸时有感觉的, 有织纹的

参考例句：

• The shoe's sole had a slightly textured surface. 鞋底表面稍感粗糙。
• Shallow burial seems to preserve chalky textured porosity. 浅埋藏似能保留具白垩状结构的孔隙。

11 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

12 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。