Childish Gambino and Erykah Badu Bring Fans to The Greek
As the Indian summer nights continue to emerge across the California coast, last Friday’s weather set the perfect tone for an outdoor concert. Zealous fans lined up for hours on the campus of UC Berkeley at the prestigious Greek Theater to hear the sounds of Childish Gambino and Erykah Badu. The two co-headlined for a one-night-only performance in a benefit to support Black Girls Code and The Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California.
At first glance, these two joining forces for a concert may seem like an odd artist lineup, but in reality their artistic styles compliment each other in a stellar fashion. Badu is a neo-soul and hip-hop veteran in the music industry, since releasing her first album Baduizm 17 years ago. While Gambino is a rising star since his acting role on NBC’s The Community and releasing his sophomore album Because the Internet last year. Although the two stars have different styles, Gambino’s younger crowd and Badu’s mature crowd came together to enjoy a night of soul and hip-hop.
Gambino’s well-known “Worldstar” chants were heard across the sold-out venue, as patrons were eager to score some exclusive concert gear. Fans adorned themselves in Gambino’s “Learn to Code” t-shirt and Badu’s “Hip-Hop is Bigger Than The Government” hoodie as the DJ played house music until the concert got underway.
As Gambino closed out the summer with his Deep Web Tour and festival performances across the world, he also managed to release a new mixtape, STN MTN/Kauai. Many fans wondered if the Georgia native would perform any of his newest material, but anticipated hearing more of his mainstream music. This was my second time catching the rapper live in concert and he undoubtedly puts on an electrifying show. With his full band and string ensemble on display along with his fancy footwork, he was sure to enthrall the audience with his stage presence. If you’ve never witnessed Gambino in an interview or perform on stage before, you would notice how he’s unmaterialistic when it comes to his wardrobe. The rapper isn’t concerned with fancy labels and jewelry; he’s more comfortable in old sweatshirts and shorts, causing the audience to focus more on his music and lyricism. To captivate the audience, he opened up with his song, “Crawl” from his Because the Internet release. The infectious baseline and mid to high tempo beat kept the crowd jumping on their feet. He went on to perform more songs from his 2013 album such as his summer smash, “3005” and took fans back to his Camp album days with, “L.E.S.” Some fans were surprised how much the rapper can sing as well, as he showed off his falsetto range on “The Palisades” and his cover of Usher’s hit, “You Don’t Have to Call.” His rock star mentality mixed with an unplugged vibe was a great way for fans to dance under the starry sky.
Earlier this year when the rapper came to Oakland to jumpstart his Deep Web Tour, he cancelled the opening night due to technical venue difficulties and rescheduled for a later date. Since he didn’t want to disappoint his fans, he tweeted he would make it up to them. “The show broke down on the first night and I promised to do something special. Did I not keep my promise?” as he said to the audience cheering him on for coming back to the Bay Area for this one night special. It was the perfect declaration before ending his performance to the properly titled song, “Telegraph Ave (Oakland).”
It was now time for Ms. Erykah Badu to grace the audience with a little Baduizm. It’s been quite a while since Badu has performed live in the Bay Area. Lately, she has appeared in San Francisco on occasion as a club DJ under her moniker, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown. So if you want to catch her live in concert, you have to jump at the chance very quickly. This was my first time seeing her perform and she embodies an immaculate royal aura. Badu floated across the stage in her top round hat and gold chains around her neck, as her band opened with her groovy tune “20 Feet Tall,” giving the audience a taste of her soulful vibe. She sang a number of songs from her New Amerykah days such as “Out My Mind, Just In Time” and “Window Seat.” She brought the audience back to when we first fell in love with her Baduizm roots with “On and On.” Although the majority of her show sets a jazzy vibe as she scats on a couple tunes, some fans were surprised to see how much the singer is also a hip-hop fanatic. She turned her set around into a flashback ‘90s hip-hop show with her skills playing a beat machine as a few B-Boys came out breakdancing on stage. She then took the audience back down memory lane to the old school with her cover of Yarbrough and Peoples, “Don’t Stop The Music.” She continued with her jokester personality and fan interaction as she sang “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” and ended with her catchy live hit, “Tyrone.” The key moment of her set was her striking warrior pose after every song to flaunt her illustrious presence. Although her last studio album surfaced back in 2010, her performance showed how many hits she has released in nearly the past two decades.
The only downfalls were Badu’s set being short as the last headliner and Gambino’s presence missing during Badu’s set. Since the two artists were both listed as headliners, I anticipated they would perform one epic song together before the night was over. However, this concert could be the start of the two touring together or collaborating on a song in the near future. So what’s the melody behind their Greek Theater performance? Two unique artists sharing the stage to help benefit organizations that are changing the world.
