This tape was released on June 22nd this year (2018). Freddie Gibbs is one of my favorite current day gangsta rappers. He’s most praised for his Piñata album with Madlib, but his entire catalogue is full of high quality content. I’ve reviewed pretty much every project he’s released since 2014. I don’t know how this project compares to the rest of his output, but I’m expecting it to be good. It’s apparently gonna be followed up by Bandana, the sequel to Piñata, so his fans have a lot to be excited about.

Weight produced by Skinny, Dupri & Richgains
Automatic produced by Kenny Beats
Death Row featuring 03 Greedo produced by Kenny Beats & Freddie Kane
Triple Threat produced by Dupri, Richgains & Enstrumentals
2 Legit produced by Richgains
FLFM Interlude produced by Richgains & Freddie Kane
Set Set produced by Kenny Beats
Toe Tag produced by Kenny Beats
FBC produced by Kenny Beats, Adrian Lau & Tony Seltzer
Diamonds 2 featuring Cassie Jo Craig & Irie Jane Gibbs produced by Dupri & Richgains

The first song is pretty standard when you compare it to the rest of Freddie Gibbs’ work. It sounds like it could’ve been on Shadow of a Doubt. The production is really bass-heavy. The hook is repetitive, and Gibbs’ flow is nothing special. I enjoyed the song though. It’s not bad at all. It just doesn’t really stand out that much compared to his other work.

Automatic is a lot more memorable. The beat is super dark. He’s not really switching up the way he’s rapping at all; it’s more of the same. It works though. I’m satisfied with the song. Death Row was cool at first, but the beat gets old pretty quickly. It samples Boyz N the Hood. Just like with the first two tracks, it’s got an absurdly heavy amount of bass. I liked the feature from 03 Greedo. From what I’ve seen, the dude seems like kind of a dumbass, but I enjoyed his feature on this project. He borrowed Eazy’s flow from Boyz N the Hood, and it turned out pretty well. I like his voice a lot. It provides a nice contrast to that of Freddie. He actually just got locked up. He’s gonna be in prison for 20 years, which is super sad. That’s my lifetime behind bars. Anyway, the song is decent. It just lacks replay value for me personally. I really like the production on Triple Threat, but I don’t like Freddie’s oddly whiny & slightly melodic delivery on the hook. His flow is pretty decent though. It’s one of the better songs in terms of production, but as a complete song, there’s not really much going on. It’s kind of predictable. 2 Legit is pretty nice. The production from Richgains is really dope. Lyrically, it’s more of what listeners would typically expect from Freddie. It’s more well done than his average song in my opinion though. I mean, it’s not really that great. I like it though. The FLFM interlude was kinda funny I guess. It’s him pretending to be an R&B singer. It sounds fucking terrible, but the poor singing was obviously intentional. However, the fact that it’s self aware doesn’t really make it any more enjoyable. It’s not meant to be taken seriously though. The production was decent. It basically sounds like Freddie trying to make a more emotional 6LACK song, except he tries reaching notes that 6LACK would normally steer clear of. Set Set has a dope beat, but Freddie recycles the same exact flow that he used on Death Row. He thankfully switches it up after a while. The hook is cool too. It’s not that different from any of the other songs on the project, but I like it. Toe Tag is more of the same. The production on this project has a consistent style, but I think it could’ve used some variation. The beats all sound a little too similar for me. The song is short as hell. In fact, there’s only one track on this tape that makes it passed three minutes in length, and it’s the final song. FBC sounds like every other song on the project. It’s kind of bizarre that a project this short has songs that feel like filler. Diamonds 2 is a sequel to the last song on Freddie’s Pronto EP. It feels more complete than the other tracks on the project, but I wasn’t really feelin’ the melodic delivery from Freddie. The female vocals were a nice touch though.

This is an alright mixtape I guess. It’s definitely not an album. The songs are all just a bit too similar for me. I would’ve liked some more varied production. It was kinda like listening to a bunch of remixes of the same song. The project is only 24 minutes long, so I shouldn’t have gotten as bored as I did while listening to it. It’s not really bad, but I definitely can’t say this is a good project overall.

Favorite Song: Automatic
Least Favorite Song: FBC

C

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this mixtape.