Redbone

Recorded in 2016 during the sessions for Awaken, My Love! at Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood and ELBO Studios in Glendale. Donald Glover and Ludwig Goransson built the track from Glover's drum part, with Goransson playing Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, Mellotron, Clavinet, bass guitar, guitars, glockenspiel, and additional vocals. Released by Glassnote in November 2016, Redbone became the breakout single from Awaken, My Love! and marked Childish Gambino's full shift away from rap-centered production. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance. The song gained wider cultural reach after its prominent use in the opening scene of Get Out and through the viral spread of its Stay Woke refrain. It remains one of Childish Gambino's defining recordings and was later ranked among Rolling Stone's greatest songs of all time.