Today is, in a way, Donald Glover‘s last day as Childish Gambino. Bando Stone & The New World, which comes out on Friday, July 19, is being billed as Glover’s final album with the Wu-Tang Clan name generator-assisted moniker he’s had since the late 2000s. While appearing on Hot Ones, the Emmy-nominated Mr. And Mrs. Smith star discussed his decision to retire the name.
“I always knew like Childish Gambino was like a character, on some level I wanted it to end. I feel like the Childish Gambino character is almost like the boss from The Office,” he said, referring to Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell. “It’s like yeah, that worked 10 years ago. It’s like oh, it’s a little sad but it’s also like wow, the cycle kind of continues, which is great I think.”
It’s an understandable decision from Glover. Would you want to be associated with something you did in 2008? Probably not.
Later in the Hot Ones interview, Glover talked about the unlikely legacy of the lemon pepper wet wings on Atlanta. “When we did Atlanta and we had the joke about the lemon pepper wet… it was literally just like a silly joke,” he said. “I didn’t know culturally that it would take on that kind of life or that people even cared that much, but that was the whole Atlanta experience to be honest, like to make that. It was a really good lesson in not worrying about the destination and just enjoying the journey really.”
Bando Stone & The New World is out 7/19 via RCA Records. Find more information here.