gangsta rap

Top notch grimy gangsta rap from Gary, Indiana's Freddie Gibbs. All the usual grim nuanced picture painting, a bit heavier on the rapper braggadocio and reminiscing, less of the specific storytelling and character creation of the Madlib collab. But the shit talking is sharp, and the delivery and musicality of Gibbs' flow are probably more varied and fluid than ever. Beats are way more on the synthy southern rap side than Madlib's sampledelic "Piñata" beats, except for "Extradite". Sound design is great, rattles the trunk, but also rewards paying attention in headphones.

FCCs: edited for radio, with possible exceptions noted.

RIYL: Clipse/Pusha T, Killer Mike, Bun B/UGK, Scarface

1. sinister bass drone and airport welcome sample give way to slow rolling trunk rattler. dark bassline, growling but deep, sparse 808 thumps, big but not much decay, rattling stuttering cymbals/snares/etc. casual shit talking reintroduction, old demons, new demons, not sweating either too much. 3:57
2. (FCC?*) ghostly not-quite-choir-like haunting synth echoes/ripples over heavy growl that serves double duty as kick and bassline, both really punchy and really squelchy. lines crowd to the start of the bar, delivery veering between just a bit slurred and just a bit sung. 3:07
3. (FCC?**) very chilly electric piano that occasionally dips into a bit of warm rhodes-y fuzz. steady trappy snare and cymbal runs over slow stuttery kicks. pained slightly sung delivery, the things a person needs to do to survive in the drug game. opens w/ an excellent sample about homework from "the wire", closes with another good one about forensic accounting. 3:21
4. bouncy sunny filtered piano, rich. piano goes dark and thins a bit, rich low steady bassline over fast hectic acoustic drum shuffle. gibbs trades verses with black thought, beat keeps flipping, sunny part comes back occasionally, darker piano part bounces off of itself at times, drums drop out for stretches. serious classic 90s NYC feel on the beat. 4:39
5. birds chirping and soft wordless female backup vox, sunny rising piano loop over swirling synth trill over undulating bassline and sparse kicks cracking snares and ticky cymbals. gibbs' flow flips all over, just a bit sung at moments, occasional dips into double time, interleaves w/ churchy soulful male and female backup vox. a brief sample of a chat w/ snoop at the end as the drums drop out and synth swirl takes over. 3:27
6. sinister growling undulating bass tone, spikey syncopated 808, very sparse kick (or maybe just a ton of attack on some of the bass notes). a touch of moog, synth fog with a bit of hushed choral flavor. another summary statement of identity like the first one, but less sure, more remorseful. brief screwed down outro. 3:51

recommended: 3, 5, 4, 6, 1, 2

* there's some buried sampled dialogue at the beginning. i've listened a bunch with it turned way up, and got the one FCC i found, but warning just in case.
** there's a "fuck" that's in the sample at the end, and it's def edited (to "kcuf"), but the "u" still pops out a little and you know what it is from the surrounding context, so it might raise some eybrows.