Freddie Gibbs
Born: 1982
Location: Gary, Indiana, USA
Genre: Hip Hop, Gangster Rap
Years Active: 2004 -
Real Name: Fred Tipton
Meaning of the Name:
Way of Working: Raps over a producers beats
Associated: Madlib, Young Jeezy
Essential Releases
Piñata (2014)
Hard-hitting rhymes over soulful samples in a unique, collaborative project with Madlib.
Bandana (2019)
The unique chemistry of Madlib and Gibbs returns.
Bringing the hard streets to life with vivid detail, flamboyance, and a versatile flow, Freddie Gibbs is a Midwest gangster rapper who rose to prominence in the 2010s. After a few early scrapes with the law, including theft and gun charges, he decided to pick up the mic, but did he put down the uzi?
In his music, Freddie claims to put people in body bags, and in his videos, he acts it out (see Thuggin'). He also carries guns with a menacing nonchalance, as if it's a part of his everyday uniform (pictured below). But how much of this is a performance intended to appeal to a "street" audience?
Freddie's early hardcore efforts gained little traction outside his local scene, but an unlikely meeting with the experimental beatmaker Madlib changed his life. Madlib is, perhaps, best known for his Quasimoto character, which is essentially him rapping with his voice heavily disguised by cartoonish, high-pitched studio effects.
So when his collaboration with a gun-toting, cigar-smoking gangsta was announced, many were perplexed, though it was really just another alliance with a larger than life character, reminiscent of his work with MF Doom or Loot Pack.
The resulting Thuggin' EP (2011), Piñata (2014), and Bandana (2019) were some of the best hip hop projects of the decade, in large part due to the pair's unusual, almost absurd, chemistry. The juxtaposition of Freddie's street bars with Madlib's vintage, Saturday morning beats worked wonders.
On the track 'Harold's', named after his local chicken shack, Freddie takes his lady on a date while bragging "my bitches are spoiled rotten." I suspect he means she got extra fries. It brings to mind Immortal Technique's admonishment "all you got was McDonald's and did-dick" from 'You Never Know.' Although here, Freddie seems to say if he wants women, he doesn't even have to shell out for KFC. Regardless, his approach is one of shameless authenticity that has become sought after in recent years.
As a Muslim, Freddie is a religious man who also led a life of crime. This seeming contradiction came to reflect his career, as one with complexities not immediately apparent. Take, for example, the picture at the top of the page, the one above the guns. It isn't typical for a gangster rapper to pose with flowers!
Over the course of recording with Madlib, Freddie retired from his old life to focus full-time on music. However, after a 2014 gig at Rough Trade Records, a gunman opened fire on a car carrying him as a passenger. His savage past caught up with him in an echo of hip hop's violent history, two of his fellow travelers were shot though the rapper himself somehow escaped injury.
Recently, he told the University of California "I wish I had a rap career that was not gangsta."
As a man who faced a long time in prison, held in custody in 2016 before being acquitted of rape, Freddie doesn't hold back in his full-chested, brash, repulsive, and humorous lyrics. The track 'Fake Flowers' features a line sure to shock: "And if he old enough to hold a strap, I'll have your baby working (shooting)." Meanwhile, on 'Frank Lucas,' his descriptive powers are used for comedic effect: "panoramic roof off on that coupe, I look like George Jetson" (referring to the cartoon).
It's this lyrical versatility, shocking and funny, blending social depth with hardcore grit, that gives Freddie's rhymes a dynamism other rappers lack. He can switch styles in a heartbeat, and his devastating insults have led to real-life altercations.
Not one to shy away from controversy, on 'Palmolive' the rapper has an anti-vax lyric "fuck your poison, keep your vaccines off us" that sometimes gives his work the timbre of a bitter man determined to bring the world down with him. While, on the same song, he delves into the history of perceived broken promises made by America to its black population, contrasting the commitment of 40 acres and a mule with the reality of widespread drug addiction.
He also compares his hometown of Gary, Indiana, to Fallujah, Iraq, in a lyric that equates a black neighborhood in America with one destroyed by U.S. forces in war: "scary Gary n****, my neighborhood something like Fallujah." It's this enigmatic quality that makes Freddie Gibbs difficult to define and impossible to ignore.
Some argue that raw, unadulterated reality rap serves marginalised communities by acting as a "Street CNN". If a rapper talking about such issues is unpalatable, how must it feel for people living there?
How can an America that flaunts the power of wealth, while barring traditional avenues of success to the disadvantaged, be surprised at young men taking matters into their own hands? In a country where hospital bills for a gunshot wound cost an average of $27,820 (2022 figure), the chase for paper can become a matter of life or death.
"I've seen a lot of close friends tossed in coffins. For chasing that money, not ever knowing what it really cost them."
Isn't the person who fights to lift his family out of poverty a hero? Though, perhaps, we invent villains so we don't have to face the terrible things we've done. "Yeah it’s a shame, because I know I can do better, than holding loaded Berettas."
This unfiltered, multi-faceted music shows the complexities of an unapologetic artist determined to express the nuance of his experience. It's part nihilism, part brutal comedy, part social commentary, and it makes Freddie Gibbs an essential listen for any hip hop fan.
Skills
*This is a work in progress. Values are subjective.Emotional Impact
35
Mental Impact
55
Originality
80
Artistry
80
Authenticity
55
Live
70
Production
85
Musicianship
55
Rapping
85
Songwriting
70
Danceability
45
Fun
70
Consistency
65
Range
65
Cool
75
Charisma
75
Commercial & Critical Success
Awards
Certifications
Charts >>>
- Soul Sold Separately: #11 in USA
Critics >>>
- The A.V. Club: Bandana - Best Albums of 2019: #4
- Complex: Bandana - Best Albums of 2019: #2
- Complex: Alfredo - Best Albums of 2020: #4
- Spin: Pinata - Best Hip Hop Albums of 2014: #3
- Spin: Bandana - Best Albums of 2014: #6
- Stereogum: Pinata - Best Hip Hop Albums of 2014: #5
- The New Yorker: Alfredo - Best Albums of 2020: #9
CRITICISM
- Dishonourably discharged from the army for smoking weed.
- JPEGMAFIA cast doubt on Gibbs gangster image by revealing his dad was a cop.
- Pictures of Freddie's most unsightly orifice emerged during one of his many beef's with rival rappers (beeves?). No more shall be said on this subject.
