Enjoy (& Be Perplexed By) Childish Gambino’s “Clapping For The Wrong Reasons” Posted by Lucas G. on 08/16/13 | Filed under Videos, Childish Gambino

A few weeks ago, Childish Gambino released a mysterious trailer for his short-film entitled,"Clapping For The Wrong Reasons". The trailer while relatively “dafuq”-inducing, did show enough to warrant excitement; like Trinidad James and Chance The Rapper playing Connect 4, Porn star Abella Anderson, and, of course Topanga. Well just a few short weeks later, Childish Gambino (A.K.A Donald Glover) released the full mini-film. While dope, it probably will still leave you with that same “what the fuck” feeling as the trailer did.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the project, but be prepared because it can be quite strange. Basically, the premise is just a day in the life of your average rapper. We follow Donald through a day of picking fruit with Topanga, recording with Flying Lotus and Trinidad James, and challenging Chance to a push-up contest. In addition, we meet a few strange characters who all basically live at his house; including Abella Anderson, who seems to be a angel or ghost of sorts. Clapping For The Wrong reasons is filled with subtly funny moments and clever dialogue and of course some cool music. My only big complaint is that there wasn’t enough Topanga. When you tell me Topanga is in something, I expect to her to be a pivotal piece, one scene simply doesn’t do her justice (in case you couldn’t tell I love Topanga). The whole thing is a little left-of-center but shit gets real weird around the 18-minute mark, so be prepared.

Most of the time, when a rapper releases some sort of movie, it is just a lame attempt to get buzz going for an album, but Gambino is a certified actor. He is on Community, and, in addition to appearing in a few films, also co-wrote the 2009 film Mystery Team, centered on his comedy group, Derrick Comedy. Granted it isn’t Casablanca, but there is still enough here to make it an interesting watch and you can tell he knows what he is doing. While I was left a little perplexed at a few moments, perhaps my biggest question is why is Chris Bosh mentioned under the “Special Thanks” section? For the life of me I can’t figure out what the hell he has to do with anything (maybe that’s the joke?).

Anyway, enjoy TopangaClapping For The Wrong Reasons...

See Also:  Childish Gambino, Topanga, Pornstars & Connect Four, It’s “Clapping for the Wrong Reasons”
See Also:  I Have No Idea How to Feel About Childish Gambino’s “Centipede”