Freddie Gibbs has reacted to The New York Times praising his acting performance in Diego Ongaro’s Down with the King.
In an article published by the outlet titled “And The 2023 Oscar Nominees Should Be …” the paper’s culture critics Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott went through each Oscar category and selected those they felt were snubbed out of a proper nomination.
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On their list for Best Actor was Freddie Gibbs alongside Daniel Kaluuya, Jafar Panahi, Franz Rogowski and Viggo Mortensen, which blew the Gary, Indiana rapper away.
“Bruhhh,” he wrote on Twitter alongside a head-exploding emoji.
Bruhhhh 🤯 pic.twitter.com/miOT1AQR04
— Big 🐰 (@FreddieGibbs) January 5, 2023
Down With The King was released on June 28, 2021 and debuted at a number of festivals, including the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in France.
The film follows Gibbs as a rapper in the role of Money Merc, who heads to a rural community in Berkshires, Massachusetts to record his next album. While searching for new inspiration, Merc’s turns his attention to farming thanks to a friendship with his neighbor.
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Gibbs told Deus & Mero that once he was cast in the role, which was his first acting role ever, he began studying his favorite Hollywood actors like Samuel L. Jackson.
“I really been studying cats like Samuel L. Jackson — that’s my favorite actor of all time, period,” he said. “So I just been looking at some stuff and tryna figure my way out and some things I wanna do, and like I said, really studying and writing and starting to get a vibe for it.”
Down With The King 👑🎬
My feature film debut.
Directed by Diego Ongaro.
Streaming & On Demand June 28, 2022.
Trailer: https://t.co/tCkxNBFpRuhttps://t.co/zi8T3xm7PGpic.twitter.com/SdOUzZgvvn
— Big 🐰 (@FreddieGibbs) May 23, 2022
In a separate interview with Complex, Ongaro said he worked closely with the Alfredo rapper to make sure the character fit him like a glove.
“Freddie Gibbs and I worked intimately together to craft Mercury’s character and backstory; some of it pulled from Freddie’s experiences and values, much of it invented,” Ongaro said. “It was an absolute thrill working with someone as sharp and multi-talented as Freddie in this collaborative way.”
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Freddie Gibbs had a lot to celebrate in 2022, including the release of his fifth studio album $oul $old $epeartely, which dropped on September 30 and is the rapper’s most successful solo project to date, debuting within the Top 20 and moving around 22,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
During an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Piñata rapper suggested the album could potentially be his last after an eager fan asked if Montana, the rumored follow-up to 2019’s Bandana, would ever see the light of day.
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“No. this my last album. Ask Madlib,” Gibbs replied.
This claim coincides with another interview Gibbs did with Bootleg Kev in October, where he was asked to comment on Alfredo 2 potentially being in the works with Alchemist.
“It’s funny you say that,” Gibbs said when Kev brought up the idea, “but I just told you that every time I do an album I feel like I might not do another one. I got a lot of stuff to do.”
He added: “This whole process recording an album. I barely got to see my kids a lot, touring, man I’m really ready to just chill, dog. I don’t know if I can go through the process of recording an album no more. I don’t know if I can.”
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He said that the pair “flirt” with the idea all time, but that he believed $oul $old $eparately to be his best work. “If I was to do another album it would be that one,” Gibbs said.
