Gangsta Gibbs season continues…
After inciting unanimous critical acclaim for his blockbuster major label debut album, $oul $old $eparately, Gary Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs presents his biggest and boldest animated music video yet for the record’s new single “Dark Hearted.”
In the visual directed by Aaron & Roux, Freddie exits a violent high-rise casino encounter (leaving various well-suited opps in pools of blood) and escapes to the desert. However, his enemies follow hot on his trail despite his “Space Rabbit” companion tossing a grenade at them on the freeway. A showdown ensues with guns blazing and an alien encounter. With classic hand drawn animation and 3-D visual effects, you need to see it to believe it! It’s unlike any video he’s ever made and anything else in hip-hop, for that matter. On the track, the sparse James Blake production enables his confessions to resound as he admits, “Man, this game got me dark hearted,” before the personal plea, “I pray the chopper never jam on me, yeah; I pray the Lord put his hands on me, yeah.”
It illuminates the scope of his world and hints at much more to come. $oul $old $eparately has arrived as the most universally applauded hip-hop album of 2022. Rolling Stone proclaimed, “$oul $old $eparately is the culmination of a long journey that brings to mind a boxing legend,” going as far as to assert, “Every step Freddie Gibbs takes is historic.” PAPER attested, “Across the album’s 15 tracks, Gibbs explores every inch of his futuristic space casino as he stomps over a wide collection of beats ranging from Madlib to James Blake, DJ Paul to Kaytranada,” and Variety declared, “$oul $old $eparately is the pinnacle of Gibbs’ rap career.” NPR hailed, “It’s a rewarding listen from an artist still in his prime,” and The FADER named it one of “The 15 Projects You Should Stream Right Now.”
The new LP, which boasts features from Pusha T, Moneybagg Yo, Kelly Price, Rick Ross, Offset, and many more, finds the GRAMMY®-nominated artist digging deeper into his past and his psyche than ever before, further cementing his status as one of hip-hop’s most authoritative voices. Gibbs celebrated the release by unveiling a surreal visual for album highlight “Space Rabbit” which finds him wandering the desert with the titular character.
$oul $old $eparately marks 15+ years of an illustrious career and a reputation for ruthless honesty and deeply personal writing have built Gibbs an extensive rolodex. His collaborators include the two producers with whom he’s become most closely associated: Madlib, who helmed 2014’s Pinata and 2019’s Bandana, and Alchemist, who teamed with Gibbs for 2020’s Alfredo, which earned the pair a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Rap Album. Kaytranada, Jake One, Boi-1da, Justice League, and DJ Dahi also make contributions behind the boards, while James Blake, Anderson .Paak and Three 6 Mafia’s DJ Paul produce and contribute vocals. Beyond the musicians are celebrities like Kevin Durant, Joe Rogan, and Jeff Ross, who pay tribute to Gibbs’ grind or rib him for his vices.
Gibbs joined Warner Records shortly after releasing his collaborative album with Alchemist. In addition to his continued musical dominance, Gibbs shows huge promise as an actor, starring in Diego Ongaro’s award-winning film Down with the King, and appearing on TV shows like 50 Cent’s Power Book IV: Force and Peacock’s Bust Down. His on-screen work has already received critical praise, suggesting he will be a potent dual threat for years to come.
“It’s a rewarding listen from an artist still in his prime. Gibbs delivers a great album that excels when he brings the listener into his headspace.” – NPR
“$oul $old $eparately is the pinnacle of Gibbs’ rap career…$$$ is timeless.” – Variety
“$$$ is solid…Every step Freddie Gibbs takes is historic.” – Rolling Stone
“[Freddie Gibbs is] simply one of the most consistent rappers we’ve had this century—bar to bar, song to song, album to album.” – Complex
ABOUT FREDDIE GIBBS:
For an artist who raps so vividly about the toll that time and regret can take on a person, Freddie Gibbs is remarkably refreshed. Despite his nearly two decades in the game—over which he’s racked up the adoration of critics, unwavering respect from his peer, and a Grammy nomination—Gibbs is just now making his debut as a major-label solo artist. The project takes a firm stance on what the powers that be can and cannot take from him: $oul $old $eparately. As a whole, it weaves heartache and celebration, agitation and gratitude in a way that would be surprising for many artists, but feels inevitable in the rapper’s deft hands. As far back as 2009, when he shocked the rap world with his pair of breakthrough mixtapes, the gravel-voiced MC has been committed to rendering reality on wax. Given the unmissable charisma Gibbs has manifested for his entire career—and the acuity of the stories he tells in his music—it should be unsurprising that the rapper has also revealed himself as a force in the worlds of acting and film production. After making his debut at the Cannes Film Festival with the film Down with the King, which Gibbs produced and starred in, he says he’s angling to bring new, unexpected stories to the screen. Now, he’s keeping perspective on his life and career by centering what matters most: family. It makes perfect sense, too, that his greatest artistic statement yet is about holding tight to the things he holds dearest, which no one can strip away from him.
