I'll start by laying my cards on the table: Freddie Gibbs and Madlib's new LP, Piǹata, is my favorite of the year so far. Almost everything about this album is awesome. The vocal delivery is passionate; the flow changes to fit the beat in the best way; the lyrics are spot-on way more often than not; the beats are just... ahhh, so fresh. Oh Jesus, Madlib is a God. Overall, his DJing and production is just amazing.
What was unclear before Piǹata came out was how Freddie Gibbs was going to do on these songs. He's released misses before. What a pleasant surprise, though. What was not unclear was how well Madlib was going to do on this LP - he's so good. Cf. his work on the undeniably classic Madvilliany. Musically, this thing is totally sound. Literally every song on here features an awesome instrumental.
Lyrically speaking, this album revolves around a theme of Survivalism: Freddie has done what he has to do on the streets to survive. He was taught at a young age "only the strong survive" and that message stuck with him throughout his life - for him that means he has to rob, cheat, steal, kill, hustle, and deal drugs. He has to be the strongest to endure life on the streets, therefore he has to do what it takes to be the strongest.
This entire record is intoned from a marginalized perspective: yes, there is talk of banging hos/pure misogyny, blowing rails, being the best, there is a verse that's a Jeezy diss, but it fits with an honest narrative of what it was like and how Freddie feels about it, so to speak. Equally, there are verses on this LP that sound like they could have come off a "conscious" rapper's album. Scarface raps "Imagine working grave-yard shifts/Lost friends steady talking that shit/A million a day is for minimum wage/Work a nigga like a slave 'til he put him in his grave" at the end of "Broken" - pure proletarian genius. He and Freddie clearly understand that "barely making twenty thou" as Freddie puts it, or "seven bucks an hour" simply "[isn't] good enough." These lyrics and others call back to Common, or even the Roots of How I Got Over and it works so well. This album isn't perfect, but boy is it close. This is right up there with some of the best rap albums of the last decade: Madvillainy, How I Got Over, The Money Store, and good kid m.A.A.d city.
Hits: I absolutely love the faux radio monologue at the beginning of "Watts," I adore "Shitsville," "Thuggin'," "Real," "Broken," and "Shame" - I really like at least half of every single song here
Misses: Freddie's monologue at the end of "Robes," Danny Brown's verse on "High," the Title Track goes on a little too long
Rating: 9.5/10
"Shame":
"Thuggin'":
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