Credit: Spotify

Childish Gambino took his music career to the next level with his second album, Because the Internet. After releasing his debut, Camp, in 2011, Gambino came of age two years later with a much more complete album, which the rapper has described as a “classic.” Aside from the music, part of the album’s appeal was the intriguing title, conjured up during a conversation with an iconic rock artist.

Because the Internet was recorded at a mansion belonging to former NBA player Chris Bosh. The album, which reached number seven on the Billboard 200, featured Chance The Rapper and Jhené Aiko, with Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson behind the production. Around that time, Gambino was in the studio with Beck, who had an interesting suggestion for the album title after asking him about the hip-hop industry.

“I was working with Beck, and he asked me a question about whether rappers talk to each other and I started off the answer by saying, ‘I don’t like starting answers with this, but because the internet…’ and he said, ‘You should name your album that,’” Gambino revealed. “It started as a joke, and the more we talked about it the more it was like, it actually makes sense.

“It’s weird to me that there’s not a similar title [out there already], because the internet is everything. These words will end up on the internet, somewhere, somehow. Everything we do is put into information online, so I thought it was appropriate for the times.”

Gambino collaborated with Beck in 2012 on a song called ‘Silk Pillow’, which saw the singer rapping for the first time since 2006. The track appeared on his Royalty mixtape, alongside another song, ‘Bronchitis’, that Beck produced.

Like many people of his generation, Gambino spends too much time online. So much that he admitted he spends most of his waking hours on the internet, only taking a break when he’s sleeping for four hours a night. Whether it’s work or pleasure, he’s chronically browsing the internet, which is partly the inspiration for the lyrics on the project.

“Emailing, checking up on information, getting sent Vines, reading a tweet, any sort of information,” he revealed as his online activities. “The album’s sort of about how I only connect through that really. I mean, how often do you sit down and talk to someone for like two hours? It’s not like a bad thing. I don’t want anybody to think this is an indictment. But I thought it was an interesting thing.

“People used to talk a lot longer and now it’s, like, if I sit down and talk to someone for two hours and not look at my phone, not only is it like a great feat, like it’s hard to do,  but I’d be probably in trouble. People would be like, ‘Where were you? Were you sick? Did you get in trouble?’ Something would be wrong.”

Because the Internet included the hit single ‘3005’. It laid the foundation for even bigger things, elevating his sound with albums like Awaken, My Love! and Bando Stone and the New World. If the latter is Gambino’s final album, it’s been a hell of a run.