Donald Glover thinks he's the "new Tupac".

Donald Glover

Donald Glover

The 34-year-old star is one of a number of hip-hop acts who have compared themselves to the late rapper over the years, but Donald - whose stage name is Childish Gambino - believes that he and Tupac share a striking number of similarities.

He explained: "I know everybody likens themselves to Tupac a lot.

"I am the new Tupac in a strange way. I grew up similar. I didn't have a mom in the Black Panthers, but my parents were very pro-black.

"Also, my mom made me go to performing arts high school. She was like, 'That's where you need to be.'"

Donald and Tupac - who was killed in a shooting in Las Vegas in 1996, aged 25 - both enjoyed success in the film and music industries.

And Donald feels that his acting career has helped people to develop a better understanding of who he really is.

The American star - who is poised to appear in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' later this year - told Esquire magazine: "Sometimes you have to play a role for people to understand you, even though you're far more complex than any of that. Sometimes it's really hard to simplify that so people can eat it."

Meanwhile, Donald also discussed the Hollywood sex scandal, hitting out at Matt Damon for saying there's a "spectrum of behaviour".

The Academy Award-winning star later apologised for trying to differentiate between "patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation".

But Donald firmly believes that people were entitled to feel angered by Matt's remarks.

He said: "I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he's like, 'There's a culture of outrage.'

"I'm like, 'Well, they have a reason to be outraged.'"