Freddie Gibbs, the Indiana rapper responsible for one of this decade’s finest hours, 2014's Piñata, has returned with a new project. Following his 2017 You Only Live 2wice, a short but sharp project detailing the trauma he faced being locked up overseas away from his family based on (now acquitted) false rape accusations, the rapper has opted to go even shorter for this year’s Freddie. Barely 25 minutes in length, Gibbs seems to be following the Wyoming formula (albeit spreading his brevity over 10 tracks as opposed to 7), so how does it stand up to his own discography?
Unfortunately, Freddie may perhaps be his weakest release. Whilst his last three works found him delivering with an intense energy over a vast palette of interesting and varying instrumentals, Freddie is devoid of both that same energy or any instrumental flavour. The most compelling instrumental moment is perhaps ‘Automatic’ - an eerie sound sweeps past your ears as the bass booms - but even this hardly holds a candle to the weakest beats of any of his last three albums. There is little to no change of sound across all of the tracks, all delivering a generic, empty sound consisting mostly of repetitive bass & ticking hi-hats. The first three tracks are the most tolerable - ‘Weight’, the aforementioned ‘Automatic’ and the 03 Greedo-assisted ‘Death Row’ are all decent enough - Freddie at leasts sounds alive, and the beats all manage to at least sound slightly unique with the latter is the hardest head-banger on Freddie. It has a hypnotic instrumental that doesn’t let up, but when 03 Greedo appears to wheeze his way across the track, all it had going for itself is lost. Immediately after this moment, the project takes a further nosedive on ‘Triple Threat’ - Freddie’s singing is far from appealing, despite attempting it with valor here, and there are no other qualities found here to save the track. The album continues at this low standard until the penultimate track - from track 4 to 9, the sound of the album is completely interchangeable. The beats could be arranged in any order, and the effect on the album’s overall aesthetic would remain completely intact. Gibbs rapping is similarly uninspired - there are almost nothing worth quoting on Freddie, and none of his performances are even close to the incredible show-stoppers that he wowed the rap game with in 2014. Hearing the man who, with an untouchable coolness, said “We broke them down and started selling nickels to the neighbors / eventually the penitentiary gon' see me later / kiss my momma, told her if I die, then it was part of nature” wearily drone “I’m super lit yeah / I’m super lit yeah / too lit to quit yeah” on ‘2 Legit’ makes it all the more regretful. The interlude ‘FLFM’ is perhaps the most grating moment of the whole project - although short, the uncredited crooning makes the break feel so much longer. The only retribution found on Freddie is the closing track, 'Diamonds 2'. Following a similar sound to the darker sounds on his 2015 album Shadow Of A Doubt, the ghostly background vocals add so much colour to the paranoid lyrics - "I can't lie, still get high on prescriptions / Sometimes I go weeks without no sleep, I'm in the 5th dimension", and being the one and only track on the project to last longer than three minutes, feels like the only complete thought here. It's a good moment, but it's far too little, too late. Freddie is another unfortunate step backwards for Gibbs. There is nothing in the way of innovation or excitement here, and clocking in at under 25 minutes it seems to be his lowest effort he's attempted so far. Hopes remain still high for Bandana, of course - but as for this between-project obligation, there's little to return to, 51/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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