Rapper and singer Donald Glover, better known by his stage name Childish Gambino, dropped his new album Atavista on Monday, May 13.
This unexpected release marks the beginning of a busy year for the artist, who has been relatively quiet on the music front.
Atavista is the polished version of ‘3.15.20’, an album that Gambino released in March 2020 and subsequently removed from streaming platforms.
The new album features official song titles, reworked tracks, and a shortened tracklist. It also includes fresh vocals from Young Nudy and Summer Walker and previous collaborators 21 Savage, Ariana Grande, Ink, and Kadhja Bonet.
Gambino announced the arrival of Atavista on social media, where he also hinted at an upcoming vinyl version of the album, complete with visuals for each song.
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He wrote, “Atavista is streaming now. This album is the finished version of ‘3.15.20’, which I put out four years ago. There’s a special vinyl coming soon with visuals for each song.”
In addition, Gambino confirmed that his next album, Bando Stone & The New World, will be released this summer. This album, the soundtrack to a film he is developing, is being billed as his final album under the Childish Gambino moniker.
To cap off his announcement, Gambino shared a link to his new music video for ‘Little Foot Big Foot’, which features Young Nudy. The video, directed by Hiro Murai, is a theatrical black-and-white clip set in what appears to be the early 1900s. It features a cameo from Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson and shows Gambino and two backup performers singing and dancing in a bar. The mood takes a dramatic turn when a man is accidentally shot and killed.
Murai, a longtime collaborator of Gambino, has previously directed the visuals for ‘3005’, ‘Sweatpants’, ‘Telegraph Ave.’, ‘Sober’, and This Is America’. He has also worked with Glover on the TV series ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’.