Childish Gambino -- "Bonfire" (2011)

Shoutout to my blerds

They represent the realness

African-American nerds are increasingly visible pop culture figures, according to CNN.  

Comedian Jordan Peele credits President Obama for the popularity of black nerds, or "blerds."

"Obama was the best thing for black nerds everywhere.  Finally we had a role model," Peele told reporters in 2012.  "Before Obama, we basically had Urkel." 

According to Rap Genius, the first black nerd to be described as a "blerd" was Turk, the black doctor from the TV series Scrubs.

Donald Faison as Turk on "Scrubs"

Donald McKinley Glover, who raps under the name Childish Gambino, is a self-proclaimed blerd.  

Glover is best known for his role as the character Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom, Community.  For several years, he was a writer for another NBC sitcom, 30 Rock.

Glover got the Childish Gambino moniker from a Wu-Tang name generator website.

Donald Glover as Troy Barnes on "Community"

You've probably seen other online name generators.  The idea is that you enter your real name and the website generates some sort of nickname for you.  

The Wu-Tang name generator gives you a rapper's nickname that is supposed to be like the names of the Wu-Tang Clan.  (You have heard of the Wu-Tang Clan, haven't you?  If you haven't, you'd better click here as soon as possible.)

Click here and you'll be taken to one Wu-Tang name generator.  Give it a shot -- see what name you come up with.  (I'm "Dynamic Mastermind," which ain't bad.)  

You regular readers of 2 or 3 lines may wonder why I'm featuring two rap songs back to back.  (If you haven't read my post about Clipse's "I'm Good," you should do that toot sweet.)

One reason is that Childish Gambino and Clipse are right next to each other on my iPod.  (Yes, boys and girls, sometimes I am that random when I choose songs to feature on my wildly successful music blog.)

But the more important reason is that I haven't been doing enough rap songs recently.

2 or 3 lines has featured purt near LINK 700 songs to date.  Roughly 83 of those songs have been rap songs.  About 28 have been country-western songs.  (You could quibble with my classification of a few of these songs, but 83 and 28 are pretty close.)

That ratio is way out of whack.  I should have a lot more rap songs -- or a lot fewer country songs.

My apologies to all of you.  I'm going to make up for my appalling failure to give rap songs their due on 2 or 3 lines -- cross my heart and hope to die!

Confucius say, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  Writing about Childish Gambino's "Bonfire" is that single step.  And it won't be the last!

Click here to read Rap Genius's commentary on "Bonfire."  Be prepared -- it's explicit with a capital "X."  (Be prepared for all the usual profanities, plus a reference to a movie called The Human Centipede which I can't say I'm sorry I missed.)

Here's "Bonfire," which is the first single from Childish Gambino's 2011 album, Camp:

Click below to order the song from Amazon: