Freddie Gibbs

Freddie Gibbs’ blistering baritone, nimble flows and uncompromising brutality made him one of the most compelling gangsta rappers from the late 2000s through the 2020s, and he only elevated his game after connecting with one of rap’s greatest beatmakers. Freddie grew up in Gary, Indiana, a city known for producing both the Jackson 5 and dependably dismal murder rates. After a short-lived deal with Interscope, he flooded the net with mixtapes and indie releases, building a dedicated fan base in 2009 and 2010 before signing with Young Jeezy’s CTE World in 2011. The two eventually went their separate ways, but Gibbs soon found a more fruitful partnership: he collaborated with West Coast producer Madlib, whose eccentric and soulful sounds on their joint albums, Piñata (2014) and Bandana (2019), unlocked new chambers of emotional and narrative depth to pair with his menacing street soliloquies. Those collabs also solidified his hip-hop prestige, and subsequent releases—including the Grammy-nominated Alchemist team-up Alfredo and solo standouts like $oul $old $eparately—continued to satisfy.