****To get the full experience of the album, I have two crucial recommendations:
1. Watch the Prelude Short Film
If you haven’t seen the prelude to the album, “Clapping for the Wrong Reasons,” you should watch that first to establish the context and mood before listening to the album.
2. Read the Screenplay
I highly recommend reading the full “Because the Internet” screenplay along with the album. The text is designed to accompany and deepen the listening experience and tell you when and where to play songs.
Read the Screenplay Introduction Here *****
The years 2012 and 2013 were a pivotal period for me, a moment of self-discovery where I was actively defining my personal identity and exploring the music that truly resonated with me. I had recently discovered Childish Gambino through his debut, Camp, and was completely hooked. My anticipation for his next major project, the then-unnamed, eventually titled Because the Internet, sent me down the craziest rabbit hole of my early internet days. The experience? Unforgettable. It was an experience that not only defined my music taste to this day but perhaps even fueled my current internet addiction. So, let’s stop scrolling for a moment and dive deep into the world of Childish Gambino, Donald Glover, and the fractured life of “The Boy.”
💻 The Rollout: Performance Art as Marketing
The first thing that demands attention is the album’s promotional campaign. What made Because the Internet so unique wasn’t just the music, it was the world-building, It was intentionally weird, scattered, and non-linear, perfectly mirroring the fragmented identity and fleeting digital thought that the album critiques. This wasn’t a standard marketing blitz but a very thoughtful and phased approached; it was a piece of performance art designed to force active participation.
Phase 1: The Cryptic Prelude
The rollout began with the 24-minute short film, “Clapping for the Wrong Reasons.” It felt less like a traditional film and more like a collective dream sequence, surreal, languid, and detached.
The cast was an eclectic, almost random, mix of figures: from actor Danielle Fishel and fellow rappers Chance the Rapper and Trinidad James to adult film star Abella Anderson and yet somehow it made perfect sense. They were connected only by their orbit around Gambino, foreshadowing the chaotic, unscripted way people intersect on the internet like your social feed; random, unconnected popping up announced in your digital world. The film offered snippets of the new music but no plot, no context, and no release date, leaving us only with “The Boy” and his strange world.
Phase 2: The Confessional Bridge
The narrative took a sudden, deeply personal turn with a series of handwritten notes posted to Instagram. These raw confessionals detailed Glover’s anxieties about his career, his relationships, and his personal fears.
This act served as the crucial bridge between Donald Glover, the artist, and “The Boy,” the fictional character. By showing such vulnerability through a typically performative social media medium, he challenged the audience to question: which confession was real, and which was part of the art? Was it for vulnerability? Was it for the sake of performance?
Phase 3: Total Immersion
The final phase cemented the album as an interactive event:
- The Screenplay: The full, 72-page script was released just before the music, deliberately making it feel “out of place” to listen to the album without reading the script. This was the ultimate goal: to force narrative involvement. You weren’t just hearing songs, you were experiencing a story
- The Digital Rabbit Hole: The campaign included coded unreleased songs, in-character Twitter accounts updating in real-time, and eventually the interactive project Pharos, which linked this work directly to the next era Donald Glover and the release of “Awaken, My Love!” (But that’s a whole other post…)
The concept was brilliant: to compel us to actively scour the Internet for clues and context, turning the process of getting the album into an art experience that justified its title.
🎬 The Narrative of “The Boy”
The foundation of the narrative begins with the monologue/spoken word outro on the final track of Camp, “That Power,” introducing “The Boy.” In Because the Internet, he is older, living a lavish, inherited lifestyle supplied and left by his father (a mogul seemingly hinted to be Rick Ross in the story) surrounded by friends, but completely disconnected. He is an anti-hero, a detached, privileged figure forced to uphold a digital image, much like a modern-day Donnie Darko (if you haven’t seen this movie please go watch it).
The Sound of Psychological Fragmentation
The story is structured into three acts, visible in the tracklist (Part 1: 1-5; Part 2: 6-13; Part 3: 14-19), mapping his psychological decline.
The album’s tone shifts constantly, from hazy, beach-day vibes to melancholic reminiscence, to manic depression. This is intentional, staying connected through a sense of voyeurism, like you’re watching The Boy’s life unfold through a screen. Produced with long-time collaborator Ludwig Göransson, and having contributions from Miguel, Chance the Rapper, Problem and Jhene Aiko, the sound actively blends and switches genres, mimicking the experience of switching tabs or endless channel surfing.
Aggressive Trap: “Sweatpants” is the frantic, rap-heavy sound of an insecure ego flaring up, with “The Boy” feeling the need to flex constantly.
R&B Slow Burn: Tracks like “Telegraph Ave. (“Oakland” by Lloyd)” (an R&B slow jam, surprisingly not actually a Lloyd song) provide moments of smooth, if fleeting, connection.
Ethereal Escape: “Flight of the Navigator” drifts into ambient dreamscape territory, the sound of The Boy slipping into dissociation, lost in memory, longing, and a surreal plea for something beyond the digital noise.
Digital Disassociation: “Zealots of Stockholm” and “No Exit” dives into glitchy, frostbitten experimental sounds, a sonic breakdown where The Boy’s detachment peaks, drifting between numbness and paranoia in a cold, digital haze.
Themes: Isolation in the Age of Connection
The album’s lasting legacy lies in its prescient thematic depth. Released nearly a decade ago, its exploration of isolation and identity is more relevant now than ever.
The Final Question/Existentialism: “Flight of the Navigator” sounds like a plea for escape, surreal, distant, and dreamlike. While the album seemingly culminates in the sprawl of “Life: The Biggest Troll (Andrew Auernheimer).” Here, “The Boy” faces reality, blurring the lines of the entire project: “Where’s the line between Donnie G and Gambino?” and “Man, why am I the only one makin’ sense?” The album concludes with the artist’s realization that the truth will ultimately be obscured, lost, and dismissed… Because the Internet.
Loneliness and Love: The contrast between “Worst Guys” (exploring superficial friendships and the search for intimacy) and the emotional core of “3005” is devastating. While “3005” is upbeat, its lyrics express existential loneliness, a wish to hold onto someone until the literal year 3005, fearing he will be alone forever.
The World as a Feed: Tracks like “Sweatpants” show The Boy flexing material success while battling deep insecurity and offering nothing like being on Instagram. While, on “Worldstar,” “The Boy” views his life like the namesake viral video platform, a constant, chaotic feed. He sees himself as a detached bystander, only inserting himself where he sees fit, reflecting his lack of control over his own narrative.
Final Thoughts: Essential Listening
While the album was initially met with mixed critical reviews, some seeing brilliance, others seeing a mess, for me, it remains a near and dear experience, even now, every time I revisit it, I discover something new. A hidden lyric. A connection I missed. A memory from when I was just a teenager trying to make sense of the world (and the web). Because the Internet didn’t just shape my music taste, it shaped how I see online culture, performance, and identity. And the story doesn’t even stop there. If you follow the arc from Camp to Because the Internet to Kauai, you’ll see The Boy’s full evolution, culminating in Kauai, where he’s reborn as… Jaden Smith (yes, really).
Final Thoughts
If you’ve never listened to Because the Internet, this is your sign. Start from Camp, watch Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, move through the screenplay, dive into Kauai, the whole journey is a time capsule of early internet culture, self-exploration, and digital disconnection.
Don’t try to view it as just an album but as an experience.
Standout Tracks
- I. The Worst Guys” (feat. Chance the Rapper)
- III. Telegraph Ave. (‘Oakland’ by Lloyd)
- IV. Sweatpants (feat. Problem)
ON KEY WITH RYAN 
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