Childish Gambino Talks Blacking Out Onstage & Why Salvador Dali Is His Hero

Donald Glover’s been balancing the line between rap artist and actor for quite some time now. After breaking out as an actor on Community, Glover successfully launched his career as Childish Gambino, rising from mixtape fame to album status in no time, including two Grammy nods for 2013’s Because the Internet. In a conversation with Billboard, Glover describes how he works and balances his double life.

How I Work
“In my house, I have an empty room: I have my studio there, a whiteboard with the Atlanta scripts, a canvas for painting and all my albums and DJ equipment. I wake up every morning and I start grabbing things — spray-painting the walls, recording, writing. They’re all connected for me. It’s all about trying to get to the bottom of what being a human is.”

My Multihyphenate Hero
“Once for spring break I went to St. Petersburg [Fla.], which is wack, but I wanted to be around old people. (Laughs.) And there’s a Salvador Dali museum there. I wrote a postcard to myself that said, ‘Never forget Dali.’ He would paint, do sculpture, ­architecture, film, photography.”

Creative High
“When I really dive into an acting role, I lose myself. And onstage, I black out — I know it’s a good show when I don’t remember it. I feel like that’s the closest you can be to ­whatever you want to call God.”