Hot on the heels of his signing to Glassnote Records, Childish Gambino releases his first single, a song drenched in Gambino’s trade mark bravado, quick wit and explosive punch lines. Throw in a stadium sized beat and you’ve got yourself a “Bonfire”
Bonfire is the first song revealed off of Gambino’s upcoming major label debut album Camp. After being played Live at The House of Blues San diego during Comic Con, Bonfire quickly became a hit online, as with most of Gambino’s music. Dedicated fans (myself included) have been patiently waiting for a CD quality version of Bonfire to drop, and just like that the wait is over. NPR Radio included Bonfire, among others, in their Fall Music Preview.
I can finally listen to a high quality version of this song instead of various crappy cellphone recordings, and I have to say, I’m pretty impressed! The song starts with a wailing siren/ horn, inter-spliced with tribal style chanting, as if to warn the listener that they are about to pay witness to an unparalleled level of badass-ery, and so they are. Gambino comes in hard, aggressive, commanding and unrelenting, saying
“Okay, Its childish Gambino; homegirl drop it like the NasDaq/ Move White girls like its coke up my ass crack/ Move Black girls cuz man fuck it, I’ll do either/ I love Pussy, I love bitches/ Dude I should be running PETA”
Those opening bars set the tone for what is surely one of Gambino’s most aggressive and booming songs. You can hear the aggression in his voice. If the lyrics aren’t enough for you, every “thump” of the steady drum-laden beat, comes with a dose of Gambino’s bravado. you can literally feel his confidence and his commanding presence through the beat. Childish even throws in a few Rick Ross style grunts during the songs hook.
Bonfire works well as a first single for Ganbino’s upcoming album Camp. It has everything long term fans have come to expect from Gambino, and it works well as an introduction for new listeners.
Expect Camp sometime in November.
Listen to Bonfire HERE [UPDATE] And just like that, NPR has taken down their stream of Bonfire. I have a feeling they jumped the gun on releasing the song. I’ll update again if they get the song back!
UPDATE 2 – Its been killing me that Bonfire was taken down by NPR and no one online seems to have downloaded the song. After searching online, I was able to find this link of the original NPR stream. You can listen to Bonfire HERE on the original stream, starting at about the 18:56 or 20:07 (precise) minute mark. This song sounds so glorious in CD quality.
UPDATE 3 – Someone uploaded a rip of the song to Youtube. Its censored and edited (By NPR), but this is as good as we are gonna get until Gambino releases an official version. Listen HERE
UPDATE 4 – And Bonfire has just been played on the radio. Cipoha of New York’s Hot97 just premiered Bonfire on the radio. You can listen to a Radio Rip HERE
Now the wait is officially over. You can listen to the official uncensored version of Bonfire HERE on Donald’s blog.
Is there ANYONE out there that was able to record the stream? Was it like a livestream or actual CD quality? GOD im dying to listen to it
It wasnt a live stream, it was an actually CD quality version of the song, but the cuss words are censored. I’ve been looking for it everywhere. Seem’s I was the only one who saw the original NPR post before it was taken down. I would have downloaded it, but I assumed the song was ready to be released. There is some good news though, this link http://news.opb.org/article/fall_music_preview_bjork_feist_atlas_sound_more/ has the song but you can’t play it individually, start listening at about the 18:56 minute mark.
I love you.
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