Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Piñata

March 18, 2014 • Madlib Invazion

This year's new hip hop phenomenon has finally arrived, and to my pleasant surprise it's legendary producer Madlib taking the spotlight, someone who I haven't really heard much from lately. While his partner choice in Freddie Gibbs is questionable, I'm not going to deny that Piñata is an album worth hearing.

Any Madlib fan is sure to be satisfied with the beats on this album, as he's as good as ever and his trademark style is still in full force—highly atmospheric beats, melodic vintage soul samples, and lush, organic-sounding instrumentation. Gibbs' comment that it sounds like a blaxploitation film is a very apt way to describe it; there's plenty of influence from old soul and jazz records and '60s-era soundtracks. I won't say it's his best work, but it's definitely up there. He does also have a tendency to add some horrible samples, though, mostly clips at the end of tracks that get a bit annoying and don't seem to add anything. Fortunately these are usually easily-skipped.

I don't think I've heard Freddie Gibbs before (he seems to be a relative newcomer, compared to Madlib anyway), but I admit he's really grown on me since I first heard Piñata. I still am not a huge fan of the somewhat-stereotypical gangsta-rap themes, and it sounds like his style is a bit stuck in the early 2000s, but his delivery isn't bad. The guest spots are hit-or-miss; it's cool to hear part of Odd Future and Raekwon on a Madlib album for sure, but others like Danny Brown don't do anything for me (seriously, that guy has one obnoxious style).

But I think the reason I'm not really as into Piñata is that even though Madlib and Gibbs are both performing well, their styles don't really gel. Maybe it's my bias due to my infatuation with Madvillainy, but seriously... Doom's jumbled, soft-spoken delivery and abstract lyrics worked well with Madlib's style there, but there's an inherent dissonance that gets created when you instead pair them with harder gangsta-rap flow like Gibbs'. It just doesn't really work as well. The single "Thuggin'" is an ideal example; it's got a very pleasant hazy, flowery soul beat, but the lyrics and rapping are brash and vulgar. It just feels a little bit wrong.

But on the other hand, it's not something I can't get used to, and this album is definitely growing on me the more I listen to it, so maybe it's just me. And admittedly there are some tracks that work fantastically well, like "Uno"; every track has its own flavor and feel so it's entirely to dislike how one track works and like another.

So yes—it's a good album, and stands up well in Madlib's discography. Since I'll probably never hear the true followup to Madvillainy I've been waiting for all these years, I'll have to make do with Gibbs—not a great replacement, but he'll do. Madlib's contribution is enough to make this album recommendable anyway.