10 Songs By Childish Gambino You've Been Sleeping On
2. Break (All Of The Lights)
Not only does Gambino like to throw out free mixtapes, he has a habit of releasing random tracks and never incorporating them into a full release. Break (All of the Lights) is one of these tracks, but very few fans actually know it.
As he was preparing to embark on the IAMDONALD tour, Glover put this track together in order to promote it. It was unceremoniously released via Twitter and after the tour, seemed to never be mentioned again. However, it served well to bridge the gap between the Freaks and Geeks EP and his debut album Camp.
The track is a riff on Kayne West's seminal All the Lights featuring Rhianna and incorporates Glover's comedic writing with his expert line delivery. Like the rest of his earlier work, the lyrics haven't aged well but you have to give the man credit for putting together those flows.
This wasn't the only time he had reworked already famous tracks. That same year, Gambino released a remix of Adele's Rolling in the Deep. The reworked version caused a huge buzz around the artist and is credited with helping him make that big break.