Childish Gambino Sets July 2 Release for Single ‘Lithonia,’ Calls Rap Beef ‘Fun’
Donald Glover appeared on Instagram Live last night to clarify his upcoming work with Childish Gambino and to acknowledge the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The rapper confirmed that he will release a new single, “Lithonia,” on July 2 ahead of his forthcoming LP, Bando Stone in the New World.
Glover has been teasing the new album with cryptic messages and the phrase “Bardo is coming,” however the news about “Lithonia” appears to have leaked via the streaming distributor Audiomack. “That got leaked, it kind of pissed me off,” Glover said in his Instagram Live. “And I know who did it, Audiomack, fucking no soup for you. You’re not getting the album now. That’s what time I’m on.”
The rapper said, in a lengthy rant, that “the problem is we’re not having fun,” saying that his new album rollout is “mostly about fun.”
“I’m trying to have fun,” he said. “Because I feel like there’s just people not having enough fun… When I was a kid there was, like, big things that would unite us and I just feel bad for y’all. I feel bad for some of y’all.”
Glover added that most of what people connect over is “fucked up.” “Even this year the most fun we had was from a fight,” he said in reference to the rap battle between Lamar and Drake. “[It] was a song from a fight, from a rap beef, which I enjoyed every minute of. It was very fun. But, still, kind of negative, in a certain light, I guess.”
In April, Glover announced two new albums, his first new solo projects in four years following 2020’s 3.15.20. In May, he surprise-dropped Atavista — a reimagined version of his 2020 3.15.20 LP — with two new songs. “This album is the finished version of ‘3.15.20,’ the album i put out 4 years ago. there’s a special vinyl coming soon w/ visuals for each song,” the rapper wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The all new childish gambino album comes out in the summer.”
Bando Stone & the New World is set to be the last Childish Gambino album. “We’re releasing Atavista, but after that, there’s the final Childish Gambino album — a soundtrack for the fans,” Glover recently confirmed on his radio show.
Glover previously said he was retiring the Childish Gambino moniker, telling HuffPo during a promo event for Atlanta in 2017, “There’s nothing worse than like a third sequel, like a third movie, and we’re like, ‘again?’” he said. “You know, I like it when something’s good and when it comes back there’s a reason to come back, there’s a reason to do that.”
He added at the time: “Like I feel like there’s gotta be a reason to do things, and I always had a reason to be punk,” he continued. “Being punk just always felt really good to me, and we always looked at ‘Atlanta’ as a punk show, and I feel like the direction I would go with Childish Gambino wouldn’t be punk anymore. As much as ‘Redbone’ is a punk song because it’s a gospel song that’s on the radio, I’m like there’s only so far you can go before you just are the radio.”
Childish Gambino will embark on his New World tour later this summer. The trek will kick off Aug. 11 in Oklahoma City and extend through Oct. 3, when the North American leg will conclude in Chicago. The international leg picks up on Oct. 31 in France, and the tour is currently scheduled to end with a final show in Australia on Feb. 11, 2025.
He’ll bring Willow on the road with him for the North American dates before heading to Europe and the UK with Ghanaian American star Amaarae. The musician last hit the road in 2019 for the This Is America Tour.