C H I L D I S H G A M B I N O L Y R I C S

On stage, he goes by the name Childish Gambino, but there’s really nothing adolescent about his act (save for his youthful appearance). Even with a black boot (for a broken foot) weighing him down, the rising hip-hop star positively ownedhis slot on the main stage, drawing a huge crowd and accompanying dance party for an enlivened early afternoon set.

Determined not to let the behemoth main stage swallow him up, Gambino - backed by a full and diverse band, exclaimed jokingly, “I’m gonna break my other foot and shit!”

Then, smirking briefly at his joke, he (seemingly) painlessly leapt about the stage for an unrelenting medley of intense hip-hop that ranged in sound from jazzy grooves to ghetto club bangers. For good-vibes tracks such as “Fire Fly” and “Freaks and Geeks,” Glover leaned on flow technique inspired by the some of rap’s most finessed vets - Common and Big L (on his mind-boggling fast verses), most prominently - with a swagger similar to Kanye’s or Kid Cudi’s on heavier cuts “Yes” and “Heartbeat.”

That’s not to say that he came anywhere near achieving what West did when he brought his insanely elaborate Dark Twisted Fantasy production to Coachella last year, but clearly Gambino impressed with chops enough to bump him up to an early evening set time on the same stage should Coachella select him for an encore (they should) in coming years.