The Roots drummer can’t quite believe how good the new Childish Gambino album is. Thursday evening saw the release of Awaken, My Love, the third album by rapper and actor Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. The new record is a sonic departure from his last album with influences from the Parliament-Funkadelic records he heard as […]

The Roots drummer can’t quite believe how good the new Childish Gambino album is.

Thursday evening saw the release of Awaken, My Love, the third album by rapper and actor Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. The new record is a sonic departure from his last album with influences from the Parliament-Funkadelic records he heard as a youth.

Questlove, drummer for The Roots and music nerd/historian, took to Instagram yesterday to share some early thoughts about the album.

In the post Quest said he’d woken D’Angelo up at 4AM to listen to the record before adding, “The last sucker punch in black music I remember in which NOONE had a clue what was coming was Sly’s #TheresARiotGoinOn.”

In one of many comments about his surprise at the record’s sound, the Roots frontman said “I was NOT expecting a trip to Detroit circa 1972 at United Sound Studio,” before adding there would be a riot should Pitchfork “play him again with these ratings.”

The album tops a busy and successful year for Glover who starred in his own TV show, Atlanta, and was cast as Lando Calrissian in an upcoming Star Wars spinoff.