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In 2020, rapper Freddie Gibbs earned a Grammy nomination for best hip-hop album with “Alfredo,” produced with The Alchemist. Now, after a two-year hiatus from album releases, the Indiana rapper released his newest project, “$oul $old $eparately.”

His gritty, deep voice dives into the “cocaine rap” style that he and fellow veteran, Pusha T, have mastered over the years, rapping about the dark place they entered while in the drug industry.

Gibbs has been one of the lesser known rappers over the past decade, releasing some of the better projects of the 2010s with “Piñata” and “Bandana,” and he now looks to release another hit for his 2020s resumé.

Album Overview
The first single released ahead of the album, “Too Much,” was an unexpected collaboration with Moneybagg Yo that combined his mainstream, bouncy Memphis style rap with Gibbs’ deep, menacing flow. The structure of the track is a lot different than some of Gibbs’ past works, as you can tell by the catchy hook and Moneybagg Yo feature that he is trying to put out a lead single to garner a wider audience.

“$oul $old $eparately” was released Sept. 30, and features a 15-song tracklist.

The amount of features is a change from his last album, which includes more mainstream artists like Offset and Anderson .Paak, but also has some of the industry’s staples in Scarface and Raekwon.

Gibbs also gathers some of the best producers in music, as The Alchemist joins KAYTRANADA and James Blake for the beats and instrumentals.

Songs like “Lobster Omelette,” and “Blackest in the Room” feel similar to some of his older pieces of work, while the rest of the album creates a different sound that many have not heard from Gibbs before.

Standout Tracks
“Couldn’t Be Done,” the album’s introduction, uses vocals from Kelly Price mixed into the background of a heavy piano instrumental, making it a standout on the project. Gibbs matches the energy of the fast-paced beat, delivering some of his best lines, and continuously referring to himself as his nickname, “the rabbit.”

This introduction sits as one of Gibbs’ best starts to a project, as he floats effortlessly on the track, talking about how powerful he is as a rapper and his time hustling on the streets.

Later in the track list, the third song, “Pain & Strife,” features former Migos member, Offset. The beat has a southern Atlanta bounce, but is a perfect platform for Gibbs and Offset to show off two of the best flows in the game.

The transition from “Pain and Strife” to “Zipper Bagz” makes it feel like one giant song, as the audience continues to feel lost in “the rabbit’s” world.

Gibbs’ “cocaine rap” style can clearly be heard on the seventh track, “Space Rabbit.” Gibbs constantly references himself as the old drug kingpin he used to be to the background of the instrumental, including random soundbytes of Gibbs’ snorting.

In the song, he talks about his pain and last resort to drugs after his record label, Interscope, dropped him following the recording of his first album, which was eventually canceled.

The drop from his record label sent Gibbs’ down an even darker path, stating “gun fights and sleepless nights, you see the pain all in my face,” and “wonder if I’m headed for hell and my soul obliterated.”

One of R&B’s biggest stars, Anderson .Paak, pairs up with Gibbs and former Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon on track eight “Feel No Pain,” which has the three artists discussing their success and how they “promise, they are good forever.”

The features from Raekwon and Anderson .Paak mesh very well together, and the difference in the three artists’ vocals make for a very diverse track, one that was not expected for a Freddie Gibbs album.

“Decoded,” the last track on “$oul $old $eparately,” features Houston rapper, Scarface, who was made popular by his time with 1990s rap group the Geto Boys. We see him and Gibbs deliver some of the best storytelling on the album.

Gibbs said in past interviews that Scarface delivered some of his favorite verses of all time, and we have seen the two collaborate before on “Piñata,” so a Scarface feature was a perfect fit to close out the album as a bonus track.

Final Thoughts
With this release being Gibbs’ first on his new label, Warner Records, fans were concerned that his sound would change and how he would transition to the mainstream scene. But after listening to “$oul $old $eparately,” that change could be beneficial for the rapper.

Since Gibbs has always been unknown to most, collaborating with some of rap’s mainstream stars while keeping some of his same sound will only help him reach new heights, even though he has been in the game since 2009.

Gibbs delivered in every department on the project, as amazing production, features, self-performances and storylines were all available throughout.

It may not be as complete as “Alfredo,” which is difficult to top, but “$oul $old $eparately” could still very well be an album of the year candidate at the year’s end, and bolsters Gibbs’ already flawless recent discography.

Published on October 3, 2022 at 9:10 pm