Key Takeaways

• These tracks reveal how Childish Gambino sharpened his lyrical edge across different eras of his career.
• The list includes deep cuts and freestyles that highlight his technical skill and wordplay.
• Gambino’s evolution as a rapper is evident in how these verses challenged expectations and earned respect.

Donald Glover’s creative universe is massive: Actor, writer, director, producer, stand-up, and genre-shifting musician. Mainly under the Childish Gambino name, he moves freely between rap, R&B, funk, and experimental sounds, blurring lines in ways that spark debate about what kind of artist he even is. But long before the A-list screen roles and award sweeps, there was an emcee from Stone Mountain fighting to be taken seriously in a lane that didn’t always know what to make of him.

When Gambino wanted to prove a point, he rarely held back. One of his clearest statements came during a show in Australia, where he stopped mid-freestyle to make it known that he wasn’t trying to imitate anyone: “’This n**ga think he Drake.’ Nah, I ain’t Drake. I sing better. I do better.” He pushed further, calling himself “the best rapper, definitely Top 5,” and added that he’d “cut their heads off,” listing Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and ScHoolboy Q as examples. In addition to stirring conversation, moments like that highlighted how competitive he could get when he slid fully into rap mode.

Across mixtapes, album cuts, features, and off-the-cuff freestyles, Gambino built a catalog of verses that showed technical precision, breathless pacing, off-kilter humor, and a clear drive to out-rap expectations. The sampling below revisits some of the hardest rap moments — the bars that helped him carve out a distinct identity in Hip Hop, even while juggling a career much bigger than music alone.

1. Untouchable

Notable bars: “My dad called, saying, ‘Son, are you okay? I just listened to ‘The Last’ on your mixtape.’ Dad, I’m fine, you just need to understand when I’m rapping on a track, that’s exactly who I am, and all my smart friends saying, ‘I really liked your album, dude, but you could be the next Mos Def if you wanted to,’ dear friends, I respect your responses, but my life is a dream, so I rap unconscious...”

2. IV. Sweatpants

Notable bars: “Still spitting that cash flow, DJ Khaled, I got a penthouse on both coasts, pH balance, real n**ga, I rep those, why though? 'Cause I said so, hip deep in that Pepto, I got five on her like Ben Folds, I got more tail than that PetCo, you faker than some Sweet'N Low, yeah, you got some silverware, but really, are you eating though?”

3. Be Alone

Notable bars: “Hard for a Pitchfork, soft for a Roc-A-Fella, music was my side chick, but now we’re moving in together, always felt misunderstood, I guess I have to tolerate, my swag Jehovah Witness, dude, it never take a holiday...”

4. Bonfire

Notable bars: “You know these rapper dudes talk s**t, start killin’, f**k that, got goons like an archvillain, I’m from the South, ain’t got no accent, don’t know why, so, this rap is child’s play, I do my name like Princess Di, yeah, they say they want the realness, rap about my real life, told me I should just quit, ‘First of all, you talk white, second off, you talk like you haven’t given up yet,’ rap’s stepfather, yeah, you hate me but you will respect...”

5. Do Ya Like

Notable bars: “Yes, I’m drinking whiskey, baby, I am gone tonight, NBC is not the only thing I’m comin’ on tonight, gross, why the f**k I say these things? It isn’t over, haven’t heard the chubby lady sing, everybody love me, call a n**ga Raymond, these weak n**gas always in your face like Raybans...”

6. Move That Dope / Nextel Chirp / Let Your Hair Blow

Notable bars: “These n**gas are not from Atlanta, ‘cause I’m from Atlanta and we would just handle it, struggle rap, Canibus, amethyst, my weed purple, rap game, I’m Steve Urkel, Urquelle, she want some pics, I’m like, ‘oh well, you better Google search,’ money rule my universe, n**ga we made it...”

7. Sway In The Morning Freestyle

Notable bars: “A lot of people try and go and talk s**t, but your girl stops me on the street like it’s stop and frisk, and a bunch of DDots wanna talk a lot of s**t, but that’s cool ‘cause in the real world they really don’t exist, it’s all because the internet...”

8. V. 3005

Notable bars: “I used to care what people thought, but now I care more, man, nobody out here’s got it figured out, so therefore, I’ve lost all hope of a happy ending, depending on whether or not it's worth it, so insecure, no one’s perfect...”

9. Yoshinoya

Notable bars: “This is a code red for old heads who never liked my short shorts and PRO-Keds, been a minute since he had to fit it on the notepad, I was busy buildin’ up the life that n**gas don’t have, told me that the money make you lonely, it ain’t so bad, n**gas’ jokes are so dad, but haven’t seen they son in a month...”

10. All The Shine

Notable bars: “What the f**k do y’all n**gas really want? I went with realness instead, but all the real n**gas I know either crazy or dead, yeah, I dropped the free EP for these other kids to feel a lot, n**gas keep asking whether this dude’s for real or not, I’m not trying to come hard, I’m trying to come me, that’s why these older songs that I used to make, I’d release free, what’s the point of rap if you can’t be yourself, huh?”

11. monster (with 21 Savage)

Notable bars: “Feelin’ so good, might smoke somethin’, hit it so good, might choke somethin’, might pull out, the game so weak, f**k it, you can go and have both of ‘em, Zone 6, n**ga, I come from, neighborhood soundin’ like, ‘Pop, pop,’ pick ‘em up, roll ‘em out, all of that drip, drip there got young boy dropped, dropped...”

12. You See Me

Notable bars: “I'm a Black star in a Black car with a Black card, they wanna knock me out, they tryin’, n**ga, realest motherf**ker in the game like Tron, n**ga, forget these white girls, I need some variation, especially if she very Asian, she got an ugly friend? Roll solo, can I stay at your place? No hobo...”

13. III. Telegraph Ave. (”Oakland” by Lloyd)

Notable bars: “All the girlfriends saying, ‘Here we go again,’ rich kid, but he act like a gentleman, last one didn’t end like it should’ve been, two dates and he still wanna get it in, and they’re saying it’s because of the internet, try her once and it’s on to the next chick, X-O, the O face on your exes, right?”