As promised, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib have rolled through with the instrumental album Bandana Beats. The project serves as the instrumental version of last year’s Bandana album, which was named HipHopDX’s 2019 Album Of The Year.
The 15-track effort includes rap-free iterations of “Freestyle S**t,” “Crime Pays” and “Flat Tummy Tea.”
This marks the second release from Madlib this year. Earlier this month, he dropped The Professionals with his brother Oh No.
Check out the Bandana Beats album stream, cover art and tracklist below.
- Obrigado
- Freestyle S**t
- Half Manne Half Cocaine
- Crime Pays
- Massage Seats
- Palmolive
- Fake Names
- Flat Tummy Tea
- Situations
- Giannis
- Practice
- Cataracts
- Gat Damn
- Education
- Soul Right
[This article has been updated. The following was published by Brian Alvarado on January 2, 2020.]
The dynamic duo of Freddie Gibbs and Madlib have announced Bandana Beats, the instrumental version to Bandana, which received a perfect rating from HipHopDX and the 2019 Album of the Year.
Gibbs and Madlib both took to Instagram to announce the project, which will be releasing on January 31 under Madlib Invazion, ESGN Records, Keep Cool and RCA.
This isn’t the first time that MadGibbs have released an instrumental installment to one of their projects. In 2014, the duo dropped Piñata Beats.
Bandana Beats is one of two recent announcements for legendary producer Madlib.
In early December, the Oxnard-native announced that he and his younger brother Oh No would be releasing a self-titled album under the moniker The Professionals. That forthcoming LP is set to release January 17 via Madlib Invazion.
[apple_news_ad type=”standard”]
How is Freddy Gibbs releasing beats Madlib made?
Good question. I’m sure Gibbs had some sort of hand involved in the production tho. I have a hard time believing that he just let Madlib do everything.
Gibbs isnt, the two of them collectively are. And its because its the instrumentals from their collaborative album. If GangStarr put out instrumental versions of their albums, it wouldnt say “DJ Premier – (name of album) – instrumentals,” it would still say GangStarr
Yeah, only premier did that, and it says DJ premier. It was supposed to be irony, smart guy.
I’m sure this is a very unpopular opinion…but I honestly didn’t see the big deal about this album. I mean it was cool, but this shit gets put on a pedestal it shouldn’t be on. And I’m not some youngin looking for Drake shit…I’m pushing 40
Yes you are. Because if you don’t like real hip hop, you automatically like Drake and mumble rappers, like Lil Pump and Lil Yachty. At least I think that’s how it goes.
Best part of the album was the beats anyways. Freddie Gibbs is cool but I can’t listen to a full album of dude. Get tired of his flow after two songs
U must have shit in your ears. Who u listen to rick Ross or young thug? Gtfoh.
It’s called tastes. My favorite rappers are Tupac, Old JayZ, underground 50 Cent, Underground DMX, Big Pun, Big L, Old Eminem, some Ludacris, and tons of other randoms… With that said, do I like Freddie Gibbs? Not really… Is he talented? No doubt. Hiphop music, like any genre, isn’t just about talent lyrically or flow wise, but also creating good sounding music. Prime example is eminem. He can rap his ass off in 2020, but he can’t make good sounding music anymore. It sounds terrible to me, and most former hardcore Em fans don’t stomach his new sounds. Taste is personal man, no need to hate on others for their own opinions. I hate when someone doesn’t care for a talented rapper, so someone jumps to “Ohhh, so you just like Young Thug and Lil Pump!”. No. Again, it’s called tastes. There are huge hiphop heads who for some reason don’t like Tupacs sound. I actually don’t care for biggie, never have, likely never will. Doesn’t mean I don’t like great hiphop.
You gotta simply be a fan to not fuck with Gibbs. You got to be a rapper who writes rhymes to appreciate niggas like Gibbs or a Nas. Gibbs got some heat. We all know music is subjective but, if you RAPPED, you would know that dude got some heat.
For those who don’t know….producers licence beats to the label in part, but the publishing is locked in stone…no matter if it’s vocal free version of the song or another artist replaced completely….when the song is sampled or in this case instrumental album….the original featuring artists are paid publishing money regardless, because the first instance of the song being released for sale under a company featured said artist. The two can’t be seperated due to these facts.
In this case, the only people getting any type of publishing most likely are the original artists that were sampled to make these beats LOL
Hopefully this will be available to stream someplace other than YouTube.
I don’t understand why every rap artist doesn’t do this??? Third parties just remake the beats, usually worse anyways… And with dope beats, you can make thousands, maybe millions on streaming platforms! Every good hiphop artist should release instrumental albums for each one! It’s a win win scenario!
Real talk bro. I SWEAR that this makes so much sense on a basic level. I rap and I was just on YouTube looking for other niggas’ beats to rhyme on and it’s like you said- the “remakes” of popular Hip Hop beats can’t hold a candle to the ORIGINAL joint. Alchemist, Jake One, Madlib, J Dilla’s estate, damn near EVERY producer should put every beat they have on the Internet because who knows? The next big thing in Rap could be discovered from a freestyle a nigga drops rhyming over these beats but, I’m bout to wreck shop on these Bandana beats. I’m bout to load up the notebook and drop some shit.
The fact this album got snubbed by the Grammies invalidates all other winners / nominees