Oakland’s historic Fox Theater was sold out and packed to the walls when up-and-coming rapper Childish Gambino performed last Thursday.

Over 3,000 fans attended the concert, according to publicist Daniel Weiner.

Detroit rapper Danny Brown warmed up the growing crowd with his playfully unique and bouncy rhyming style.

Attendees began to nod and move as pungent clouds of smoke plumed toward the high, carved ceiling.

By the time Gambino took the stage with his five-piece band, the theater floor, balconies and aisles had all filled up.

The Fox’s architecture is lavish and luxurious, with Indian and Middle-Eastern accents. It was originally to be named The Baghdad when it opened in 1928, but was renamed when it was incorporated into an existing theater chain.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Fox housed a Wurlitzer organ to accompany silent films and hosted a live stage show to introduce talkies.

Attendance declined in the 1960s and the theater closed after showing its final film, The Beatles “Let It Be” in 1970.

It was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1979, one year after the City of Oakland made it a landmark to spare it from demolition.

The City has officially owned the building for the past 12 years, nine of which were spent renovating it to be reopened to the public.

Now, the Oakland School for the Arts resides above and the theater is opened to companies like Another Planet Entertainment for performances.

This show marked the middle of the first leg of Gambino’s Camp Tour, which is travelling nationwide in support of his latest album of the same name.

The album, which was Gambino’s first with a record label, was released last November and has received praise for the singles “Bonfire” and “Heartbeat.”

Off the stage, the public knows Gambino as writer and actor Donald Glover. His credits include acting in the popular TV series “Community” and appearing in NBC’s “30 Rock,” for which he also wrote, shortly after writing for “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central.

He has also done two stand-up comedy specials on Comedy Central, and he was one of the writers and stars in the 2009 movie Mystery Team.

He began releasing albums in 2008 under the name Childish Gambino, a name Glover said in a 2011 interview that he received from an online Wu-Tang Clan Name Generator.

While comedy is clearly a strong suit for Glover, Gambino’s lyrics range from the lighthearted to the intense, including schoolyard bullying, troubled relationships, alcoholism and thoughts of suicide.

Faux trees and tents bordered the stage to match the “camp” theme of the tour and album. Gambino’s band members each had several instruments in front of them that they interchanged to match the vibe of the song they were playing.

They lent percussive rock energy to Gambino’s fast, aggressive lyrical technique.

Videos and lyrics flashed across the bright screen behind the stage, creatively enhancing the visual presentation of the music.

Crowd favorites included “You See Me,” a song about Gambino’s affinity for Asian girls, and “Heartbeat,” the popular single that features a heavy synthesizer hook and raw, emotional verses.

The audience also went wild when it recognized the first song of the fifteen-minute encore – a cover of Tyga’s “Rack City.” The encore continued with a freestyle session, where Gambino showed his vocal DJ scratch impression and shouted out to his appreciative Oakland spectators, saying “Imma do it for the Bay!”

While some actors that enter the music industry fall into gimmicks and fail to establish relevancy, Gambino rhymes with passion about issues including race, intelligence and homophobia.

He represents a conscious side of the “hipster” trend in hip-hop shared by artists like Kid Cudi and Odd Future.

Fans in attendance said they enjoy Gambino’s unique musical sound and “just love his swag.”

Publications such as The Source, XXL, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and National Public Radio have also praised his style.

The next Childish Gambino mixtape is set to be released this year and is rumored to be called “Royalty.”