Growing up in the same place as Michael Jackson could be a massive inspiration to it's residents. It could show them that they could become one of the most famous people to ever walk the Earth. However Gary, Indiana which is notorious for it's high levels of poverty has seen it become somewhat of a ghost town over the decades. What does that mean for those left that don't possess the ability akin to one of the greatest entertainers ever? Well where there's poverty, there's bound to be crime especially drug-dealing. Step forward Freddie Gibbs, Gary's very own coke-rap connoisseur, who returns with the much-celebrated beatmaker Madlib to drop Bandana. Released to critical acclaim in late June.
Throughout the album, you will hear Freddie say 'CAINE or CAINE SEASON' and that's the central theme of Bandana. So yeah if you're into coke-rap then this is for you. Aside from the trapper talk, Gibbs does touch on relationship regrets on Practice as well as the stresses of life on Gat Damn. He also share his views on political and social issues throughout. A couple examples below
Maxine Waters, fuck your poison, keep your vaccines off us
Crackers came to Africa, ravaged, raffled, and rummaged me
America was the name of they fuckin' company
Obama got elected today, and I got arrested
LA County literally strippin' a nigga naked
And I never tell on none of my enemies or connection
Motherfuck Jeff Sessions, I'm sellin' dope with a weapon
I highly recommend checking out Genius where he personally annotates his bars and delivers some interesting insights. As far as technical skills go, he definitely has that... Madlib's not known for working with wack rappers at all let alone twice. Nice displays of internal and multi-syllabic rhyming throughout. My one gripe however is his fast flow makes him incoherent at times. All of my favourite verses on this project was when Freddie was spitting at a slower pace.
14 tracks plus a skit long and entirely produced by Madlib, the main selling point of this album in my view is without doubt the production. Having previously worked with J Dilla on Champion Sound ; Talib Kweli on Liberation and most notably MF Doom on Madvillainy, the producer sustains his reputation of putting out dope collab albums on Bandana. The core sound of the production is soulful although Madlib does dabble in trap on Half Manne, Half Cocaine as well as dancehall on the Jamaican-influenced Massage Seats. In between that there's of course that traditional raw hip-hop that hip-hop heads can enjoy. Most of the plaudits I saw when this was released was from the aforementioned. As far as beats go, this is probably the best-produced album I've heard this year. I've always had a preference for hip-hop with a soul/jazz sample so this was right up my street. For me, the standouts were Crime Pays, Fake Names and Cataracts.
Only 3 tracks include features and Bandana is an undeniable example of quality over quantity. Gibbs brought out the A-list of lyricists on Bandana with Pusha T, Black Thought and Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def all stopping by dropping dope verses. Anderson.Paak who is amongst RnB's finest also delivers a nice hook and verse.
Overall with dope beats and literally dope rhymes, this is a definite shout for album of the year. I'll give this an 8.5.
FAVES
Beat- Crime Pays
Feature- Pusha T
Verse- Flat Tummy Tea verse 2
Track- Cataracts
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