man it's good to see you man yeah it's good to see you it's really good to see you man and uh I'm glad we're getting a chance to talk at this moment in time you know you've you've really thoughtfully taken us through so many different sides of your creative spirit and you've honored every single one of them and I feel like in in some strange kind of way Bando Stone in the new world
is sort of all of it and it's like hey I can do this is all of it like I I don't need to be modular here like I can be funny I can I can I can create a great film I can bring my family in I can make my best body of work I can cover all the spectrum of sounds from the hard and the dystopian to the soft and the soothing and the real I just feel like somehow for me as a fan of yours you've brought
it all together in into one beautiful gumbo you know that's good to hear I feel like you know like I I get it like you know people you know if you're depending on what you want or what you where you want to go you'll listen to shade depending on what you want you'll listen to like you know 9 inch nails like you'll listen to what they offer something you know they offer
something and I feel like with more access to things you you can offer I feel like a more holistic view of life or just like what what we're all kind of going through so I was like yeah I feel like this made the most sense I felt like the soundtrack I'm a big fan of the soundtrack yeah so I felt like the soundtrack allows okay let's talk about the distinction of the soundtrack and
and how that kind of allows you to explore creativity differently than a linear creative project as Childish Gambino what does the soundtrack unlock the soundtrack forces the audience to participate in a way that I don't feel like most things uh force you to participate it forces you to have an imagination because like because if you put out the if you put out the soundtrack first then I already see
people being like this is very cinematic this must be the part at this feels like a credit sequence all of that stuff allows you to have to participate which a lot of stuff doesn't ask you to do which is why I think a lot of stuff feels flat yeah like a lot of stuff feels flat because it's not asking you to participate art used to be you had to participate on some level and have like
some sort of thought process on it you can't just be like oh this is mid or like this is bad or like yeah you know flop it has to be you know why do you feel like these characters are angry but that's why I really feel that we're we're entering into and we've known each other long enough to know that you know I'm not shy of IDE of of being you know an an idealist or or or or an optimist
about about things I I I truly feel like we're heading toward a Renaissance to some degree of of um that that artistic uh uh acceptance that that that idea of of of of accepting of acknowledging art rather than just passing it over or or or dismissing it I really do hope so I what's making you feel that way because I think a generation of artists were introduced to the idea of execution
through this new Fast placed algorithmic social mediad driven content first F just go go go right it's just just just the music unlocks the other things and I think the ones that have come out of that and have and have a journey ahead of them want to tell stories and make music they're all 24 to 29 they're in a generation where um their maturity levels are about to go into a different
growth level they're a generation now in that in that time frame and they're making their best albums and I think that and I think that I think that that is going to hopefully Inspire others to realize that just because you started in the internet doesn't mean you have to stay in the internet no yeah because of the internet nice nice well that's it we're done we brought it all we brought it all
back together right I waited 15 years for four and a half minute synopsis I'll take it so how's life man I mean you you you put you you put so much into what you do and I know it's a joy for you but obviously it comes with work and it comes with real concentration and effort and and you know there's a lot of balancing things and then you you complete something like this and it is a
a very complete picture of who you are before we sort of talk a bit more about it um what is the what is the sort of immediate feeling that you get when you realize that you've closed the loop as much as you can on something like a bando Stone I remember seeing like the ending of Sopranos and being like I I feel very content and I know some people didn't feel that way but I remember
watching it it's like man like I have to make something that makes people okay with an ending like that and like you know that that's what because it made me feel so great I felt so I guess in EMP powered by that ending because it just felt so true so I was like yeah let me just try and make something true can I add something to that real quick there's a really great band called Japan Droids these two guys
been making music since 2009 and they just announced that they they're putting out their final album and they put a song with it and they say we're saying goodbye but we have an album to say goodbye with which I was always harsh on I'm like man just end I was like I was like a weird like was a weird Rule and then I was like no no no I love that you're doing this it's a beautiful thing
but not everybody gets to die on on a bed you know like not everybody dies on a bed people die some people like it's some people die on the toilet some people die like in in in the car Japan Droids are surrounded by loved ones right now on a bed exactly exactly like you get to be surround if you get to be surrounded by loved ones and be like hey I want to say this was important to me
it's like why not do that why not do that because like yeah a lot of bands that like you know like Oasis didn't get to end like that you know what guys you know they were like it was a bad day they closed they closed the door in the dressing room and when you open it was blood and guts just Blood and Guts everywhere so I'm like yeah people got to be okay with that but also what I
like about it is like it adds value to things and I think people that's also like an internet thing where people aren't sure that like that people think it's about clout I think a lot of people think like oh you want the attention of being like it's done and I'm like some no I'm like you just want to say thanks it's so true cuz when you when you announced this was the last CH last
Childish Gambino album it it you're right man like we're trained over the course of this kind of thrashy way of of of absorbing the end of things and sadness to go like oh it's a move it's a move and it's it's not a move right like the album has a lot of sincerity and it like man I'm I'm 40 I got three kids like I'm I'm not into the like thank you but yeah I'm not into the I'm not trying to be for
anybody anymore it's too much work I have you know I have to pick the kids I have to make chia seed pudding so they have something to eat in the morning like I don't I think that the idea of like oh they're trying to do this to get this I'm like sincerity is like completely is very undervalued I understand that but also music is undervalued and I feel like the so it's got got to start somewhere I'm not
saying like oh you have to make people value it it's an open market but you got to make valuable things you know you just got to make them and I feel like this is very valuable stuff like I I can't even make music like thismore do you know how hard it was to make this I actually do CU When I listened to it I was like man like you covered so much ground and put so much into uring that
every moment on this soundtrack and on this album repres knows itself it's really hard to make an album of songs and moments that know themselves it's fine if they know each other but every one of them is like oh I know what my purpose here is in this and that's worth right and also like just logistically just clearing a sample clearing like get all the that thing changed over the past
couple years like that all that stuff changed and like making the song that you actually want and the sound that and using the voice that you actually want and all getting all that that stuff is it's very impossible it's very hard nowadays so I'm like yeah like I like being able to be like yo we did it we made the meal and we get to be like you know like when my mom makes something
she' be like I know it's good you know like I know it's good I don't need I'm saying thank like when you're like this is really good mom is like she doesn't need you to oh thanks bab she's like I know it's good there is a point in life when the people that you love get to a certain age where the thank yous we've given them for the past 55 or 60 years just fall on De ears cuz they're like
dude I'm still here I'm rocking I'm just getting better yeah like like that that's what this is for this isn't like you know this isn't for any this is for this wait is this a movie man because I thought it was a movie and then someone was like no it's more aligned to the soundtrack and it's not a full Scout theatrical release but it is going in before the quiet place and so what's the
vibe and so can you just clear that up like what are we what are we dealing with here it's a movie I'm I want I've been wanting to make this movie for years it's kind of crazy because when the soundtrack came out a friend of mine Alma she's a director incredible she she's working on Dave and all the stuff she hit me she's like you told me about this movie 10 years ago do you remember
that you like you want to make this movie and I was like I forgot like I've had this in my head since like probably Community Days wow and I just didn't have the time and now I have the time that's part of the re I like I have to finish this to make sure that this happen so it is a movie when it comes out it's it's is the hard part like just making sure because also that structure
of like making big movies is changing too so like it is you know like I gotta I just got to make sure it comes out it's done in the right way and how much well that's a really good point and I know we here talk about music but just to focus on the execution of the of the film for a second you know how has your attitude changed to that because obviously the when you dream us up during Community Days the dream leads
leads to a theatrical release it leads to to all of the the the boxes checked that make it feel like it's a worthwhile experience based on what you experienced as a kid going to the cinema you are now part of that Pantheon part of that Legacy right but it has changed and and it's gone the way of Music the distribution now is like so how so so what's your take on the balance between
doing something that's good for your heart and something that's good for the consumer I remember going to the movie theater when I was a kid and seeing and this it wasn't even I went to see the beauty I went to see Beauty and the Beast and theyve showed Li The Lion King trailer beforehand yeah but that feeling but that's what I think is important it's like kind of realizing
like yo like that feeling of seeing The Lion King I remember when I saw it I was like struck and I remember like oh I just have to make people feel like that yeah and how do you make people feel like that you know I how do you make people feel like that and that's all I think about now it's like really this album and every song on it are moments and it's just like how do you give people the moment and yeah money's
going to change the moment all those things are going to make the moment harder to make and yeah sometimes it's harder to make the moment now and because of financial things but all you're doing is trying to make people feel the moment but the beautiful thing is is is to bring it is to bring it in house it was such a beautiful move people use words like Savvy savvy's fine
but it was just a really it was just a really human thing to do was to be able to make things yourself with the people you trust and and bring it in house what is the point in having success if you can't invest it into yourself so that you can manifest your own success and what yeah it's really that I mean but also it's like you know the process has got to be fun like what's the point all
this stuff is like you know none of it's what it used to be anyway none of it like like Tina Fay used to say this to me and I love it she was like welcome to what used to be big time it like a a joke wait I'm got to jump on on that that gets a that's by the time you get there it's always going to be changed anyway so you can't think of the Grammys as the Grammys because the Grammys you had when
you were eight is very different now the the the machine has changed all of it has changed and it does and we decide what's valuable and what's not and what's valuable to you the moment was always valuable to me the other stuff is nice but the moment the the somebody being like I did you hear this like that the first time you hear like the first time I heard like Electric Feel I remember I
felt like I was like hi I was like yo this song is blowing me away those like this song is those kids man they were like kids that was straight out of college yeah but also showing the video of them making it I was like this is wild like but also I'm like that's more that was very important to me that feeling and like the feeling of first hearing like you know and most of these
songs were that like lathonia is me being like man I want to make people feel like I did when I heard the blue album you know like I was like like that really is and but also the whole album honestly it's a big goodbye album so like all of it is made for us to get together I made the live show like the live show it this live show isn't the best live show you've ever seen by the
first song you can have your money back and when I saw the tour dates announced I had the strangest feeling I will tell you exactly what came to mind I was like this will be the greatest show anyone has seen forthcoming in a long time I just knew it I just knew you're going to do it you're just gonna show up and just leave it all on the stage we just been studying other shows I've been like I'm
trying to beat that's important to me the live show like you going really this album was made for is like yeah let's have a big old party so when you hear all these songs you'll know them I'm going to add all these new songs I'm going to add all this new technology but the live event is what makes it valuable to me like in real life event is what makes it valuable to me so like yeah
it's a big the whole album like was made for like Arena Rock like Arenas kind of so I was like oh yeah let's that we confuse the idea of saying goodbye to something with the end of something goodbyes and ends are not the same thing and so you you you can you can say goodbye to Childish Gambino but I I I know that it's not the end of Your Love Of Music so I'm assuming this is just
kind of you saying hey look you know this thing that the internet and all of you as fans have been attached to as a part of my identity no longer serves me right but but what does it make room for now I think it makes room for you know like I always wanted to make like I always love that that Paul McCartney album Ram yes one of my favorite R you're gonna make a ram like I always like let me make a ram album
like I was like like let me make a my Ram you know kind of thing just the way I think about it and like focus more on the experience because I always realized I was like yeah like you know I wanted to be a wedding planner I was like where does that come from I was like oh yeah being making experiences like this live show was wait hold up pause wait hold up pause yeah at some point in your life
you wanted to be a wedding planner that was the job I thought I was going to be when I was a kid I was like I'm going to be a wedding planner are you any closer to understanding as you've grown older and and done some self analysis and some have some self-awareness um as to what the original kernel of motivation was for you to want to help other people I know you say you want you like the the
eventation of things that's a very specific thing right that's at the point of a union it's all up for grabs after the wedding yeah I feel like I mean like I just remember my parents my mom had like those stethoscopes I don't know how where she got them from like I guess a friend I give her from like stethoscop so she had two of them and I realized if you take the tip off and you just blew
into them it sounded like thunder and I just gave my little brother and sister them and I made a whole Contraption in the garage like I was like I would blow into them I would like spray them with water I would have them go up and down these and I was like oh like I'm just obsessed with the experience i'ms because it's like it's something that's un intangible but you know you go to
Walt Disney World and you see you get on that death star and like it's like you're there and I'm like how do you control that for people cuz that's that's what's I mean like all the phone stuff is cool I like the internet I think the internet it can be a great place you know like some right now it feels like a mall but it can be like really cool but it's only part of the bandwidth you know like it's only like
it's only like three channels on the bandwidth and it's like there's like 18 channels it actually doesn't do anything for our own internal frequency but it's a great frequency to to to to to dial into but but I found that it actually has no value to my actual frequency Within Myself like I it doesn't clear anything up for me and it's just like man I just feel bad for kids honestly I
feel like not bad but I'm like I'm like man when I was 16 there was actually fun stuff to do that was free and cheap yeah you know just like and I feel like it's so much hard like people like these tickets are expensive I'm like they are expensive like this stuff is expensive land in the garage with a couple of stethoscopes in a water Miss man going off yo it was going off I had like my
own Disneyland I'm like if I could do that if I can do that again you know if I can make people if if I can get people an experience where they can like you know really those jam bands and like going to see Dave Matthews and fish and all that my dad all the like Funkadelic like my dad was tell he's like really what that was was like people like a tribe of people coming together and
being like yo we all we're we're all have having this experience and I'm going to pass this down like I knew people were like I'm going to bring my little cousin to Dave Matthews because like I remember it was a big deal to me and I'm like that kind of is what's interesting to me about being like yeah like go see you know this Pink Floyd go see this thing because it's like it was
it was so influential to my upbringing and it was just like you know it was just an experience this is what makes you you because all of that is just wonderful learned shared wisdom and advice and should be applied and we should try to move through life with that that attitude and then we should also put Yeet on as many songs as we possibly can you with his like a feature on his do I with Yeet are you kidding me
I I think I think I think I I think one of the biggest jokes in music is how people don't understand how great this guy is he's he's a workaholic man like he he'll make a he'll make something so fast like and it'll just send stuff like it'll be like yo what do you think of this I was just like I'm just super impressed with him and he loves music like that's and he has like a visual
he's a full artist he's a full artist and the thing is the kids man they love that most people don't know they're like yeah yeah yeah keep it that way yeah yeah I know 60,000 people in Romania going bet are like we're good stay out he's the man like I really like with his like working with him because we were in Paris working together and like working with him on I just am just surprised by
how resourceful he is like with stuff like he do like he the he was working with I was like so what are you using he's like he's using all the stuff that comes with the stuff he's not like buy like getting on like oh I need this plugin like I was like oh he's super resourceful he's like a um he's like a creative prepper yeah he really he's a creative prepper prepper like where he's like I
can do this at any point at any time the world could come to an end and I'm still gonna get my hate out his laptop was broken that we recorded into like it was like I was like this is wild like I was like I was like you're not afraid of losing it he's like nah like if I you know if I lose it I lose it have you seen him shooting guns on the on on Instagram he loves guns we were talking
about that because like I mean like at the end of the day we're kind of both kind of like country boys so I was just like yeah it was like talking about stats and stuff and I learned a lot about guns on Mr Mrs Swift so we were talking about that it's like yeah he's just out there he's like y this does this and that I was like I learned a lot actually we're both kind of Preppers I
think about it like it's just like you know we're just kind of farm prepper types you're like but you're like you're like a bougie prepper I am I mean like but I know I feel like the bougie part is like you know I know what I like because like here's the thing like if you can grow your own strawberries that is bougie but it is also prepper it is you know like it is kind of it is kind
of both where it's like yeah it's it's just nice to have your own strawberries but at the same time if you know how to do it if you actually know how to do it yeah it's like natural BGE but also any everybody can do it you right now and be like how do you do this I'm really happy you're saying goodbye charge Cambo I know I'm probably going to get cursed out for saying that but you did the damn
thing and you know for me it's got It's got a lot wrapped up in it you know it's got a lot of um amazing music it's also got some frustrations through projects and things that I know you were searching for you can find at the time and it's just there's just a lot of life wrapped up in childish and I think the character did its job and and I'm really excited to see this film I love that you
worked with your son I I I'm very family orientated as I'm sure by now you know and uh and I'm I'm very very focused on on on beautiful road maps and roadways for the people that I love and the people I care about and it must have been really rewarding for you um just to see him even at that young age develop his own voice and his own his own path and and it cuz cuz even in the trailer
man you can tell like he is in character he is 100% in the moment and just as a director but also as a parent it's got to be one of the most rewarding things ever I really was like you know not that the acting and stuff was a bad path but I wanted him to do whatever he wanted exactly I always just remember like do whatever you want like maybe you'll be a soccer player I remember we signed him
up for soccer and he was playing soccer and he got the ball finally and he's kicking it and we're like oh go go and he in the middle of a play goes and like pretends to die and I was like oh he's an actor I was like he's I was like he's an actor it's done he's not gonna he's not gonna be coding he's not gonna he's not gonna do any of that stuff not g be a mathematician can I just asked if the
coach who was probably the dad like he just looked at me and I was like he's an actor I'm sorry well get him out he's not a real Coach it's a dad dad's got to get to know dads but he's also got to play coach he's gonna take you goonna take you and gonna take you guys aside and just be like look he's not cut off of this thing but he's not he's not gonna do this I was like oh
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you're right you know he can do but that's I think the feeling you want to instill it's like you can do whatever you want but I was like oh he he has stories you know in him of course he does and he wanted to do this like he's like CU I'm like really like as parents were like you don't have to do any of this but he wanted to and he's really I mean he's
really in the pocket on that song I was like yeah he sounds amazing on it yeah like I was like very impressed there's a line in the in the trailer if you haven't seen it which sums up that you know I think the Childish Gambino career beautifully and I think is a nice way for us to pause here which is um I can sing you're [Applause] useless it's just it's just the most yeah I love it [Music]