Born and raised on the streets of Gary, Indiana, rapper Freddie Gibbs has arisen as one of the realest and smoothest emcees. After building a close-knit fanbase with years worth of hard-hitting mixtapes and solo albums, Gangsta Gibbs finally exploded onto the hip-hop scene with the 2014 Madlib collaborative album Piñata. With a budding mainstream following, the Indiana-based rapper dropped Shadow of a Doubt the following year.
All seemed to be going well for Freddie Gibbs and his hard-earned career until he was arrested before a show in France thanks to rape allegations from Austria in 2015. After a messy few months in European court, Gibbs was finally acquitted of the charges in late September, provoking a sigh of relief from his eager fanbase.
With the highly anticipated followup album with Madlib that was initially expected to drop at some point this year, Bandana, the hip-hop world has been on standby waiting for the return of Gangsta Gibbs. Last night, Freddie Gibbs finally re-emerged through “All Day”, his first released track since being acquitted of the charges earlier this year. The single, produced by Harry Fraud, shows Gibbs in a more pensive light than usual. In a handful of lines, he even seems to allude to the sobering recent experience of being extradited to court in Austria.
“Them people got you by the nuts when you stuck on the paper/Money for your lawyer and your bail G/Used to run through bitches with my n****s in hotel suites/Now it seems the only place we dress up is the court room.”
Backed by Harry Fraud’s smooth production skills, Gibbs delivers a rare emotional flow. The track was released by Fraud himself, so it’s unclear when “All Day” was actually recorded. Nonetheless, Gibbs’ smooth delivery and brutally honest bars are enough to keep us in check while we eagerly await his next project.