The first thirty seconds or so of “Yaphet Kotto” is arguably the best thirty to ever emerge from Glover music-wise - Gambino’s rapidly improving as a producer (sure, Kanye-tinged, but who’s really going to be tight over drum breakdowns and wailing Manchild samples this polished), and for a few bars, he keeps the elements that occasionally made him so grating before to a minimum.  But the second he lets his voice skip up a few notes in pitch (“Headlines saying he’s leaving to be a rapper”), it’s all over. 

After the opening four bars, he drifts back into the same tropes and cliches - black disadvantages (“Cause they tryna get my demo, young white kids with money”), his acting career (“But niggas saying, ‘This dummy; he’s eating off of his acting, I mean/Who the fuck wanna be a rapper, it’s stupid’”), stilted gimmicky delivery (“Who knew every rapper with a new crew/Wanna do shit on Hulu”), annoying voice inflections (“Yeah they know me/happy face emoji”), his struggles with fame (“I wet the bed first night on the tour bus”), his shit-talkers (“The same dudes who laughing after you go/Be the same dudes who emailing asking you 'bout your show”), and dumb jokes (“Khalifa’s first name, now there’s urine on him”).  I could go on, and on, and on.  

Any other rapper and I might just dismiss him as a lost cause.  But Gambino’s capable of brief moments of brilliance interspersed among long stretches of borderline musical self-sabotage, and there’s just enough to suggest that he’s capable of much, much more than being a punchline.  He’s come a long way in his journey to merge the wry, quirky self-awareness of his first album, CAMP, with the dexterity and maturity of his mixtape Royalty.  

Gambino’s music is only so frustrating because the only thing holding him back is himself and his own pathological need to return to the gimmicks that vaulted him to relative fame.  Donald Glover has enough going for him that he doesn’t have to be a famous musician to be set for life - he’s a remarkably talented actor, comedian, and writer.  But clearly that’s not the route he wants to go, if his impending withdrawal from NBC's Community is any indication.  But unless he wants to be the hipster younger brother of Drake who likes rapping about his dick for the rest of his career, Childish Gambino will have to figure out a way to make it all work for longer than thirty seconds.  It’s like he’s insecure, returning back to what he thinks he knows works - but for a thirty-year old creative, there’s a limit to how far repetition can get you.