Freddie Gibbs & Madlib | Pinata | CD 127

Freddie Gibbs is the product of violent, drug-laden streets. Piata, a 17-track collaboration with producer Madlib, is the best distillation yet of his electrifying talent as a lyricist and performer. Gibbs is joined on Piata by Raekwon (Wu-Tang Clan), Scarface (Geto Boys), Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt and Domo Genesis (Odd Future), Ab-Soul (Top Dawg Entertainment) and a host of other guests who help him set his soliloquies of the streets alongside film snippets and dusted funk, soul and prog musical tapestries. While this is the latest in a series of single-artist collaborations for Madlib, after Jaylib (with J Dilla), Madvillainy (with MF Doom) and the street-centric O.J. Simpson with Detroits Guilty Simpson, for Gibbs it is the first time working with just one producer. Gibbs admits it was a challenge rapping over beats with chops and changes as unpredictable as the man who created them, but says with conviction, I did it to perfection. Once you take a listen you really can't argue...