“Redbone” is a song by rapper and singer Child Gambino aka Donald Glover. It is the second single from his third studio album “Awaken, My Love!” The song had three Grammy nominations and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance. The song has been described as “oozing with soul.” The song’s genre is considered “Psychedelic funk” which is combination of funk music and psychedelic rock.
When interviewed about this song Donald Glover said, “I think people hear ‘Redbone’ and are like, ‘Oh, he pitched up his vocals,’ but there was no vocal pitching on the album- I just sang differently.” A lot of his vocals in the song are very funky and high pitched. The instruments in the song add a very slow, groovy feel to the song. The song’s intro incorporates a bass line and the Maestro G-2 of a vintage Telecaster. Accompanying this melody is a synth organ. Other unique instruments come in later in the song such as a clavinet, a mellotron, a glockenspiel (similar to a xylophone, but the bars are made of metal plates instead of wood) and a Juno-106 synthesizer. This song combines many different, unique instruments and synthesizers that give the song a distorted, psychedelic feel.