Piñata (CD)

Featuring Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul, Polyester the Saint, BJ The Chicago Kid, Big Time Watts, G-Wiz, Casey Veggies, Sulaiman, Meechy Darko & Freddie Kane Freddie Gibbs is the product of violent, drug-laden streets but unlike most rappers with similar resumes, he brings the block to the booth without inhibition or an exaggerated rap persona. Pinata, a 17 track collaboration with producer Madlib, is the best distillation yet of his transparent approach to making music, combining at times stark honesty with electrifying talent as a lyricist and performer. Pinata is "a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax," says Gibbs, who came up on the streets of Gary, Indiana, the disregarded city previously best known for producing Michael Jackson. Here he is joined by Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul and a host of others in setting his soliloquies of the streets alongside film snippets and dusted funk, soul and prog musical tapestries. While this is the latest in a series of single-artist collaborations for Madlib, after Jaylib (J Dilla), Madvillainy (MF DOOM) and O.J. Simpson with Detroit's Guilty Simpson, the pairing is unique as it is the first time for Gibbs working with just one producer. On Pinata, Gibbs can shift from textbook lessons in robbing and drug dealing on tracks like "Scarface" and "Knicks" to perhaps the album's most personal song, "Broken," a collaboration with Scarface. "Deeper," a Gibbs favorite and the third single from the album after "Thuggin'" and "Shame," is an ode to hip-hop in the mold of Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R." "High," featuring Danny Brown, delivers exactly what fans would expect from Gibbs, Madlib and one of Detroit's finest. Throughout the album, Madlib's signature production provides the perfect backdrop for Gibbs' uncompromising lyricism, making Pinata a landmark collaboration in both artists' catalogs. Tracklist: 1. Supplier 2. Scarface 3. Deeper 4. High ft. Danny Brown 5. Harold's 6. Bomb ft. Raekwon 7. Shitsville 8. Thuggin' 9. Real 10. Uno 11. Robes ft. Domo Genesis & Earl Sweatshirt 12. Broken ft. Scarface 13. Lakers ft. Ab-Soul & Polyester the Saint 14. Knicks 15. Shame ft. BJ The Chicago Kid 16. Watts ft. Big Time Watts 17. Piñata ft. Domo Genesis, G-Wiz, Casey Veggies, Sulaiman, Meechy Darko & Mac Miller