Monotony jails growth, but consistency grows legacies. Freddie Gibbs has been rapping since 2004, but he’s ascended from only being unknown among the barz-only set to being arguably the best rapper of 2014 in five years on a torrential wave of vivid tales of his life on the street only matched by Pusha T. He’s a rapper’s rapper who is as good for a “Gangsta Gibbs, hoe” and making “coca cut the curriculum” as Common is good for a “yes, yes y’all” and musings about why love is cool. But, on his latest project Shadow of a Doubt, Gibbs is passed his fixation with “rappity-rap,” as he explained in a recent interview. It’s still Gangsta Gibbs, hoe, but this time with harmonies.
By the time Shadow of a Doubt’s outro “Cold Ass Nigga” fades, it becomes glaringly apparent the album is anchored in two vastly improved traits: singing and song structure. A lot of songs have extended hooks before the chorus with the verse playing more like an equal part in a quintet than the maestro of the entire symphony. Gibbs’s rap ballad about frivolity, “Careless,” is mostly the hook, chorus and a common ending harmony for each verse. By deep in the second half of the album, Gibbs is unrecognizable, more August Alsina than Scarface on “Basketball Wives.” In the interview referenced earlier, Gibbs said he admired Young Thug’s melody work and claimed Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive was the best rap project of the year. If you doubted how serious he was about these assertions, the trapper turnt singer feel of these songs should suffice for evidence.
Here is the uncomfortable truth about the legacy that Gibbs ventures into but never fully succumbs to on Shadow of Death: your foundation will always be where you feel the most comfortable. As noteworthy as his attempts at expanding the universality of his music with an expanded vocal repertoire, sometimes it sounds like he’s forcing the codeine trap Kool-Aid down his throat. The same man who “used to finger fuck her singing Usher” while detailing the perils of lost love on the vivid narrative “Deeper” from his best work yet, Piñanta, is out here making songs like “10 Times” and “Mexico” where lyrics and topics are an afterthought. The Murda Beatz-produced “Mexico” is ripe with common trap rap tropes: rollies, monosyllabic flow, vocally distorted singer comparing cars to women and an uninspired Freddie Gibbs who coasts through the song. This is the lowest point of an album powered on inventive experimentation.
The production on Shadow of A Doubt exists within the spectrum between turnt and somber with soulful tinges permeating through the DNA of a few beats. “Careless” with its
“Fucking Up The Count” is a serious contender for the album’s best song, with Boi-1da and Frank Dukes providing the stuttering drum patterns that lets him deliver a barrage of lyrical couplets married with ominous sounding keys that embolden his dark tales and a brooding bass.
When he ends the album with “Cold Ass Nigga,” the most demonstrably aggressive verse on the album, you realize Shadow of a Doubt isn’t Gibbs flipping to go pop, but a man secure enough in the foundation he has laid to take a leap of faith.
One of the best albums of the year.
album of the year 2 years in a row gibbs best rapper alive
No doubt
Garbage all this shit going on niggas still talking this drug bullshit
I so agree. He always talking about that life. At 33 you have to have more to say by now.
Gave it a spin in my mothers car and didn’t like it. Might try again soon.
I love how Gibbs just continuously shits on the entire rap game everytime he drops something.
NIGGA U LYIN NIGGA GIBBS A STRAIGHT CERTIFIED HO ASS BUSTER. HE A POWDERPUFF THAT ACT GANGSTA BUT IS ACTUALLY GAYER THEN THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD. ALLAH FUCKTARD! ALLAH FUCKBAR! FREDDIE GOT SHOT AT LAST TIME HE CAME TO NYU CUZ HE A GAY ASS DOWNLOW-ASS NIGGA, HE A FRUIT LOOP FO’ REAL. AND HIS RAPS IS PLAYED OUT, HE ACT LIKE HE ORIGINAL BUT JUST SOUND LIKE TONS OF MIDWESTERN CATS FROM THE ’90S. HE A BITCH MADE NIGGA AND THIS ALBUM WACK AF. ALLAH FUCKBAR.
Why everyone want him to rap about something else? Y’all have 5,000 wack rappers out there that rap about what YOU want to hear. Let us have one good one. Classic album.
Not one mention of the Black Thought feature?
Hm……….
I want to like it, but without Madlib, Gibbs presenation is just average cliche gangsta rap. I hope he stops trying to impress the mainstream audience who won’t appreciate his above average flow and sticks to working with Alchemist, Statik, and Madlib, and keeps making underground classics. Pinata was one of the first real gangsta rap albums I was able to appreciate since, like, Hell Hath No Fury, or maybe Strong Arm Steady. Go back to that formula.
Dude, Alc and Statik are both terrible producers. Doesn’t matter how many braindead sheeps say they are of the best ones out there, they suck. Madlib can make a good beat, Pinata just wasn’t good presentation of his skills.
Piñata is his best work but, c’mon, Statik Selektah is WACK.
“Madlib can make a good beat” wtf kind of understatement is that? Madlib shit’s on your favorite producer
BOY….you are a SPECIAL kinda stupid, aren’t you???? The Alchemist is a muthafuckin genius, you are a complete retard. But then you go and say Statik Selektah is dope??? You stupid clown, Statik is fuckin garbage!! There are only a few on Alchemist’s level. You’re dumber than a dummy.
ESGN remains as his best album, but this is still better than Pinata. He kinda sounds like he’s not 100 % present on all the songs. Plenty of good songs, though. 3.5
ESGN is his worst album.
ESGN is definitely his worst album. It was even more of a disappointment especially after following BFK.
Thanks for the false input.
great album! fuck all that fake shit from frauds and police like officer ricky
Dope as hell. He never disappoints. Bettet than Snowman album btw 😛
Not album of the year but definitely in the top 10. Yeah Pinata was better, and also ESGN but this is a good album. Would like to hear Freddie widen his lyrical topics on the next album, then maybe he can make that 5 star album. Definitely got the potential.
Freddie gibbs has my respect. I preoredered the album off the strength of his classic song thiggin.This album is good. You can hear on certain songs that hes using meek mill and jcoles flows, but fuckit, hes bringing the energy and lyrics of ti and weezy in 06 and is a welcome contrast to the bullshit out at the moment. Fuckin up the count and the song with black thought are absolute classics imho. I give the album a 4/5. But god its good compared to the garbage that is poppin nowdays.
Uou clearly appericiate real hiphop. Hell hath no fury is classic! Id love to see gibbs and pusha link up oh lord
Solidified his spot among the greats with this one.
I respect freddie to the utmost…that’s why i can’t give this album too high of a rating. This album is a 3.5 at best. Just too redundant and beats were lacking on most songs (notice i said MOST songs). There are of course some bangers sprinkled throughout, but as a whole freddie didn’t bring us pinata….that simply says freddie has that “Nas” syndrome, dope lyrics but subpar beats to match
Overall solid album, production is nice and lyrics are good. Would recommend this album to someone who listens to southern rap.
4/5
From what i’ve heard of this album i’m impressed the beats and loops are awesome it’s Freddie Gibbs
i only have to hear the music the vocal and flavour this ish bangs!!!
Hoe
Solid album, Gibbs. 3,5 out 5, not much cause i was expecting something at least near Piñata. Seems Gibbs have the voice, have the rimes, but leaks that spark only Madlib could gave him by now. Some tracks are well produced, but far from his last album. Its hard to realease somethin after that masterpiece. Still way better than some (most of) trash albuns realeased this year. Gangsta Gibbs still deliverin quality rap.
Great production, mostly fluid album, next level storytelling and rhyming – great mix and a sure step up for Gibbs. Awesome work.
Gangsta Gibbs evolving
NIGGA U LYIN NIGGA GIBBS A STRAIGHT CERTIFIED HO ASS BUSTER. HE A POWDERPUFF THAT ACT GANGSTA BUT IS ACTUALLY GAYER THEN THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD. FREDDIE GOT SHOT AT LAST TIME HE CAME TO NYC CUZ HE A GAY ASS DOWNLOW-ASS NIGGA, HE A FRUIT LOOP FO’ REAL. AND HIS RAPS IS PLAYED OUT, HE ACT LIKE HE ORIGINAL BUT JUST SOUND LIKE TONS OF MIDWESTERN CATS FROM THE ’90S. HE A BITCH MADE NIGGA AND THIS ALBUM WACK AF. ALLAH FUCKBAR.
Gibbs remind me of Zro a rapper from houston
Been listening to Gibbs for a few years. The first time I heard of him was the song with him and Jeezy – Do It For You. I liked the way he sounded and also heard him say GI so i wanted to hear more. I looked up his stuff and liked all of it and was very happy about finding an artist who i like. Which I havent really liked an artist like him since 2pac and Nas. To me this album fell short. I listened to it once, didnt care for it. Listened to it a 2nd and 3rd time and started to like a couple songs on the album. In all i probably like about 4 or 5 songs on the album. Gibbs has flow and lyrics but seems like he’s trying to conform to commercialism now. I like when Gibbs tells a story that you can feel. Like Deeper, World so Cold, One mo Time, The Ghetto and many more of his older stuff. This new album didn’t have much story telling or stuff that you can feel. More like songs he just kind of threw together with a few producers. I wish he would stop blocking out industry people from promoting himself. I think promotion is everything. You have artist out here whos albums are garbage but they know how to promote it and that why people buy into it. He has to get his name out there and not dick ride any other artist but not beef with them also. He should start thinking about going back to what he came from and give us those raw stories that you could visualize when he’s rapping and that soothing to the ears. He can do them hard-core gangsta songs too and that cool. But think about a radio hit that doesnt try to sound like anybody else just his raw self and people would love him after that and more people would know his name and make him more money. People want to hear real shit like Pac shit not someone trying to conform to the sound of other artist to become more mainstream.
compared to the rest of the albums out there, I still say this album is probably the best. Gibbs remains my favorite artist since pac also. I’m looking forward to more work from him but would just like to see him with a better team around him thats going to promote him and get some radio play that sounds like him.
After Piñata I was expecting more, much more… 5/6 good tracks and that’s all.
Big deception
Still jammin this regularly. Quality album, I was surprised and glad I didn’t delete half or more of it at first listen.
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