The Unexpected Success of Redbone

this video is sponsored by Skillshare head on over to SK LS h / polyphonic 22 get two months free and start learning today the most surprising hit song of 2017 might have been Childish Gambino's red bow it was a funk song created by a Hollywood actor under his rap pseudonym and it was released by an indie rock label yet somehow redbone climbed billboards charts peaking at number 12 and even placing 25th on their year-end chart not only that redbone was featured heavily in the oscar-winning get out and it was such a phenomenon that spawned its own me but this wasn't all for no reason the song had a unique promotion cycle that helped push it into the spotlight and once it was in that light it looked on the contemporary world by pulling careful influence from the past let's take a closer look any talk of the influences of redbone should start naturally with a brief history of funk the origins of funk can be traced to the upbeat rmb of James Brown Brown's music was built around syncopation rests between notes and unlikely timing that made the audience want to groove after James Brown innovated the genre acts like Stevie Wonder or fly in the family stone pushed it into new territory in the 70s he moved the audio spectrum down even further filling the bottom and with thick bass riffs on top they used guitars that were heavy with muting and pedal effects and paired them with horns and keyboards had a good helping of psyckadeli to that and you wind up very parliament-funkadelic the place that red boat has its roots in an interview with billboard donald glover said that he remembered listening to funk records as a kid and not knowing what he was feeling I remember hearing a Funkadelic scream and being like wow that's sexual and it's scary not having a name for that though just having a feeling that's what made it great a song like cosmic slog shows off the kind of dark groove that struck Glover so much as a child reflecting on the social and cultural world around him Glover felt parallels to the era that birthed this funk the early 1970s so he decided to stew in that sound and make a record in it one of the biggest influences on the sound was Bootsy Collins Collins was the bassist of parliament-funkadelic his smooth bass and big personality turned him into a star and helped him spin off a solo career and his own side projects one of these projects was booties rubber band and on their 1976 debut album we can find the song that inspired Redman I'd rather be with you this is particularly evident in the way both songs transition from the intro to the verse with the vocal lines Donald Glover pushed himself to the upper end of his register in fact the vocals are so high on redbone that many thought Gambino used vocal effects but he told triple jada that was just his natural singing voice actually there wasn't a ton of vocal stuff done like I think people here at dawn and I thought Opel like there was no like vocal picking on the album the results is a brand new sound for his music but one that remains deeply connected to the Past producer lutely Lorenson heightened this connection by using the same vintage equipment that helped to find the funks and one of the main keyboard licks is created on a Fender Rhodes an instrument that was ubiquitous in the 70s and drove songs like Stevie Wonder's isn't she the guitar was a vintage Telecaster run through a maestro g2 rhythm and sound pedal that pedal helped your incent app into the kind of wah effects that Hendrix used to turn voodoo child into an early funk rock masterpiece but of course if you're gonna pull from 70s funk there's one all-important ingredient the slap bass they're slapping was a bass technique invented by Larry Graham the bassist of Sly and the Family Stone Graham was influenced by upright bassists who would slap their string to create a jarring sound instead of slapping with his hand though Graham would hit the string with his thumb using the bouncing rebound to pluck a higher string the slap bass quickly took over fun and became one of the defining aspects of the genre listening to thank you for letting me be myself again you can hear the kind of slap pop bassline that worked its way to red bow [Music] [Music] put together all of these create a natural function capturing the vibe of the 70s perfectly but it wasn't just the sound of the 70s that inspired Gambino Donald Glover explained to billboard that social movements like black lives matter made him think of the early 70s when the Black Power movement was peaking he said how do you start a global revolution really is that possible with the systems we've set up there's something about that 70s black music that felt like they were trying to start a revolution of course this revolutionary spirit is more obvious in this as America a song that Gambino would drop 18 months after redbone but that doesn't mean the politics are absent from Red Bull the music may be funky but the lyrics are paranoid casting a darker tone on the song this is particularly true in the chorus this paranoia speaks to Glover's perspective on being black in America he told Billboard about his experience I want people to feel scared because that's what it feels like to be black amazing things can happen that can be taken away in a moment the song reflects this lyrically with the choruses main cry stay whoa that line works in rainbows paranoid story of adultery but it also speaks on another level staying low Queens staying aware of society and staying politically active even if the world makes you want to close your eyes the twin meanings of stay woke we made it a perfect fit for Jordan peels masterpiece get out redbone plays throughout the opening scene of that movie it speaks to the movie's political awareness and the way it uses horror as a metaphor for black American life the success of get out was a big part of redbone rising up the charts but that's only part of a wider puzzle redbone and the entire awaken my love album injected an unexpected jolt of throwback into the hip-hop community due to Gambino's history as a rapper he was able to slip the song on to hip hop radio and perhaps more importantly on to Spotify shrap caviar playlist Touma basa who curates that playlist told variety about the to include it sonically it wasn't traditionally hip-hop but it was so dope how could we not include it redbone is for the culture and rap caviar is for the culture the response of the hip-hop community is perhaps best exemplified by Questlove the legendary drummer for the roots who explained his reaction to awaken my love in a frantic Instagram post I thought I was getting some fresh millennial 2016 hip hop [ __ ] and I got sucker-punched I was not expecting a trip to Detroit circa 1972 a united sound studios despite its rising success Glover never released a video for redbone nor even a piece of artwork for the single as a result the awaken my love album artwork became so intricately connected to redbone that I've been using it as a symbol for the song throughout this entire video of course the simple iconography of that artwork is part of what helped launch it into meme dough by the end of its unlikely rise redbone had netted itself a Grammy Award and two more nominations redbone had broken Childish Gambino's music into the mainstream and set him on the track to becoming a musical icon it for shout out his successes to come while looking back on the music that helped shape him but perhaps most of all it shone a light on the reality that people were living in 50 years ago and that we still face today and it came with an all-important message stay was Donald Glover is one of the most impressive artists working today not only is his music career thriving he's also an award-winning actor director producer and screenwriter if you want to tap into that Gambino energy and learn to be a polymath there's no better way than skill share with more than 25,000 courses Skillshare is the best place online to learn a new skill looking for a place to start why not try Mike Boyd's how to learn which will teach you strategies to approach learning new skills once you've got that down you can take mat velocities course going viral which will teach you to make content that can thrive on the Internet and if you go to SK l dot s h slash polyphonic 20 you can try all of this out absolutely free for two months that means two months of unlimited access to more than 25,000 classes in a whole assortment of topics so you'll have a whole library to choose from on your quest to become a true renaissance person like Donald Glover following that link also shows skills share that you support my channel which is a big part of why I'm able to keep doing these videos week after week so please just give it a shot and channel your inner childish gambino

Channel: Polyphonic

Views: 616,386

Rating: 4.9586229 out of 5

Keywords: polyphonic, music, video essay, childish gambino, rap, hip hop, donald glover, redbone, awaken my love, funk, bootsy collins, music history, sly and hte family stone

Id: i0t2krkHen4

Length: 10min 11sec (611 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 05 2019

Reddit Comments

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