Freddie Gibbs may arguably be one of contemporary hip-hop’s best and (shamefully) most unheralded emcees. Sure, his songs talk about the street life but with a stark, unvarnished honesty. Indeed, unlike most mainstream emcees who take on exaggerated, superhuman personas and tell tales in which nothing ever goes wrong, Gibbs lyrics pulls the showbiz curtains back, revealing the failures, bruised psyche and broken heart of the actual man. 

His latest effort, Piñata produced by the great Madlib bears a similarity to Small Professor’s and Guilty Simpson’s impressive collaboration, Highway Robbery in the sense that the material is a shared artistic vision that sounds unlike most of the hip-hop you’d hear on the radio or on most blogs for that part – it’s grown men shit, that talks about the evil that men do and the regrets that they have. 

The unedited version of “Robes” featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Domo Genesis has a dusty, soulful sample that brings to mind old Wu-Tang and Raekwon records. But by far the emcees are spitting some incredibly inspired lyrics. 

This folks, is real hip hop. Turn off that childish Hot 97/Power 105 bullshit and listen to men spit truthful lyrics.