Being from Atlanta, how did it feel to get asked to be a part of the Outkast festival in Atlanta, ATLast?
It was dope. But to be honest, what was cooler was André [Benjamin] coming to my show. There had to be a reason for him being there. I was very honored, because Outkast played a really big part in Atlanta culture for me. But him coming to my show, because his son is a fan. And then meeting his son. That’s what was really cool. It was a cool moment.
That was a good weekend. It was very Atlanta. Also, speaking of, the first track on the EP that you put out last year, STN MTN, starts with “I had a dream I ran Atlanta,” followed by a DJ Drama narration. It feels like an inside joke for anyone from the city.
It’s super, super specific.
Exactly. So with that song, that festival, a TV show in the works calledAtlanta, you seemed to be pushing to be associated with Atlanta, without trying to market yourself as an Atlanta artist. And, on top of that, a large part of the listening public doesn’t think of you the same way they think about Migos. Are you actively trying to force your Atlantaness on the public? Do you just want people to know where you’re from?
Here’s what it is. There are two sides to every story. When I went to college, everybody was like, Oh my god, you’re from Atlanta … fukking Lil Jon … is it like this … oh so my friend’s going to Emory that shyt must be off the hook all the time. People forget Atlanta is a very black city. Again, not to get on–
There’s a lot of black people in Atlanta.
There’s a lot of black people in Atlanta. And it affects you when you’re a kid and everybody around is black. You’re like, “Oh, OK, cool, there’s people and we’re kind of in the shyttier positions, but there’s a lot of us.” And then you go everywhere else and it’s like, oh yeah, Atlanta is a black Mecca. But publicly, you only often see one type. And I just started seeing that as a microcosm for everything. So I need people to understand, I see Atlanta as a beautiful metaphor for black people. For a black person. Because Atlanta — everybody knows it as something. And it’s supposed to be a bunch of things for a lot of people. It’s tried to be everything, but it’s in the middle. And at the end, what it is? It’s all these things. It’s crazy.
It has the capacity to handle everything, but it’s never really figured out how to handle everything.
There’s subsections and different groups, but there’s also the version that people think, Well, this type makes money. It’s not some evil thing. I’m from America, too — I get capitalism. I understand what’s going on here, I just think there’s actual money on the other side. People give Tyler Perry a lot of shyt, and whether that’s your taste or not, I get it. But that audience is there. There’s an audience for that.
Yeah.
So, I guess to shorten this, I have taken Atlanta on my back, but only because everybody’s like, Where are you from? That’s where I’m from. And people have a “huh?” reaction. So I just think it’s important. And it’s a metaphor for who I am. Or maybe I’m a metaphor for Atlanta.
http://grantland.com/features/donald-glover-childish-gambino-grammys/
It was dope. But to be honest, what was cooler was André [Benjamin] coming to my show. There had to be a reason for him being there. I was very honored, because Outkast played a really big part in Atlanta culture for me. But him coming to my show, because his son is a fan. And then meeting his son. That’s what was really cool. It was a cool moment.
That was a good weekend. It was very Atlanta. Also, speaking of, the first track on the EP that you put out last year, STN MTN, starts with “I had a dream I ran Atlanta,” followed by a DJ Drama narration. It feels like an inside joke for anyone from the city.
It’s super, super specific.
Exactly. So with that song, that festival, a TV show in the works calledAtlanta, you seemed to be pushing to be associated with Atlanta, without trying to market yourself as an Atlanta artist. And, on top of that, a large part of the listening public doesn’t think of you the same way they think about Migos. Are you actively trying to force your Atlantaness on the public? Do you just want people to know where you’re from?
Here’s what it is. There are two sides to every story. When I went to college, everybody was like, Oh my god, you’re from Atlanta … fukking Lil Jon … is it like this … oh so my friend’s going to Emory that shyt must be off the hook all the time. People forget Atlanta is a very black city. Again, not to get on–
There’s a lot of black people in Atlanta.
There’s a lot of black people in Atlanta. And it affects you when you’re a kid and everybody around is black. You’re like, “Oh, OK, cool, there’s people and we’re kind of in the shyttier positions, but there’s a lot of us.” And then you go everywhere else and it’s like, oh yeah, Atlanta is a black Mecca. But publicly, you only often see one type. And I just started seeing that as a microcosm for everything. So I need people to understand, I see Atlanta as a beautiful metaphor for black people. For a black person. Because Atlanta — everybody knows it as something. And it’s supposed to be a bunch of things for a lot of people. It’s tried to be everything, but it’s in the middle. And at the end, what it is? It’s all these things. It’s crazy.
It has the capacity to handle everything, but it’s never really figured out how to handle everything.
There’s subsections and different groups, but there’s also the version that people think, Well, this type makes money. It’s not some evil thing. I’m from America, too — I get capitalism. I understand what’s going on here, I just think there’s actual money on the other side. People give Tyler Perry a lot of shyt, and whether that’s your taste or not, I get it. But that audience is there. There’s an audience for that.
Yeah.
So, I guess to shorten this, I have taken Atlanta on my back, but only because everybody’s like, Where are you from? That’s where I’m from. And people have a “huh?” reaction. So I just think it’s important. And it’s a metaphor for who I am. Or maybe I’m a metaphor for Atlanta.
http://grantland.com/features/donald-glover-childish-gambino-grammys/
A 20 minute radius from Downtown Atlanta is somewhere near the perimeter 
at your sig.
Not even worth getting into it
