Posted by Michael Barthel on 03/08/2011 at 12:49 PM News

The Popdust Files: childish gambino, donald glover

Donald Glover, who plays Troy on Community and is currently making a strong play for the position of The Internet’s Boyfriend (TM), today released a new EP under his hip-hop alias of Childish Gambino.  It includes the previously-released “Freaks and Geeks,” and is pretty good, especially for a mixtape. It also reaps an unexpected benefit from the entertainment industry’s post-digital malaise. Now that there’s less money to throw around and careers are less direct, talented people like Glover are forced to be more artistically entrepreneurial, pursuing multiple avenues to fame in hopes that one will hit.  He was a writer on 30 Rock, a standup comedian and a rapper, and while the performer thing worked out, all the other talents make him more endearing as a public figure, even if he’s not the best at any of them. And then he uses digital services like Twitter to spread word of all of that, making us all feel like we know him, even though we don’t.  Which is fun!