Piñata (Freddie Gibbs and Madlib album)
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Piñata is the collaborative studio album by Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs and California hip hop musician Madlib. The album was released on March 18, 2014, under Madlib Invazion.[1] Entirely produced by Madlib, the 17-track LP features contributions from Raekwon, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, Domo Genesis, Scarface, BJ the Chicago Kid, Ab-Soul, Casey Veggies, Meechy Darko, Mac Miller, and more.[2] The album was recorded by Josh "The Goon" Fadem and Glenn "G-Wiz" Browder between January 2011 and October 2013.[3] It was mixed and mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters, except for "Shame" and "Terrorist", mixed by Kelly Hibbert.[3]
The album was preceded by three EPs including Thuggin' (2011), Shame (2012) and Deeper (2013). Upon its release, the album was met with universal acclaim from music critics, including a 82 score based on 19 reviews at Metacritic. It debuted at number 39 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 9,500 copies in the United States.
Background
I’ma tell you the truth, man. I had a dream, dog, that I had a little baby. The little baby’s birthday was here and shit. You know I like Latina girls and shit, man. I want to say all of my girls speak Spanish and shit. Anyways, so the baby would probably be a Mexi-nigga or some shit. So it was like a little nigga-Mexican baby and shit. That nigga wanted a piñata, man, in the dream, man. I don’t know. I must’ve been cooking some dope or some shit that week, because the nigga started hitting the piñata, and it wasn’t shit but dope falling out the piñata. I was just like, “Damn, man.” They was just kids playing in the dope. They was just playin’ in the dope. It was little four-year-old kids hitting dope in piñatas. I don’t know. It was a crazy ass dream. So, I just called that shit Cocaine Piñata.
— Freddie Gibbs, speaking in April 2013, with HipHopDX about how he came up with the album's original title, Cocaine Piñata.[4]
In a press release, Freddie Gibbs described Piñata as "a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax. I will show you my flaws, I'll show you what I've done wrong and what I've fucked up at. "I don't regret shit, but I'll show you the things I'm not proud of. I'm about to show niggas how to rap again. Everybody else is going to fall in line."[1] Additionally, Madlib, added "My stuff, it ain't fully quantized… it has more of a human feel, so it might slow down or speed up. So you have to be the type of rapper, like [MF Doom] or Freddie, who can catch that, or else you'll be sounding crazy."[1]
In February 2014, the tracklist and the cover art of the album was released. The cover art features Gibbs wearing a black Adidas tracksuit and hanging out in a neighborhood park, with a zebra print border surrounding the image.[5] In a March 2014, interview with Rolling Stone, Madlib spoke about how they started working on the album, saying: "I met him through Ben Lambo. He used to work at Stones Throw. I heard some of an earlier album with Jeezy on it [Gibbs' Cold Day In Hell]. And Lambo wanted to see if he could do something different over my style of beats. That's where it all started… I had gotten over eight CDs worth of music to him, and just let him pick out whatever he could vibe to. I didn't do anything special, I just let him pick stuff that he could write to. I thought he'd pick different types of beats, [but it was] all raw shit. I didn't have to tell him, but that's what he wanted to record."[6] He also spoke about how they recorded the album separately, saying: "No, he recorded the vocals on his own. Like, I handed him all the CDs, and he picked out all the beats he wanted, he recorded them at his studio, then he handed those off to me, then we finished it. I would add little things, like these choruses. That's what usually happens: I let 'em record what they want, then I add stuff as needed after that, like extra horns or whatever… I'm usually working on other thangs, you know what I mean? I don't have time to sit there and coach somebody that just already knows what to do, and that's the kind of people I usually work with… I don't want to sit there like a babysitter."[6] Gibbs also spoke about how the album was recorded over three years, saying: "We two different guys, man. I was still in the streets when I first started that Madlib album. I was, then I wasn't. You can tell the progression on the record, though. You can tell the different places that I'm in, 'cause I did it over the course of three years, coming up with the ideas and concepts."[6]
Critical response
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| Consequence of Sound | B+[9] |
| Exclaim! | 7/10[10] |
| The Guardian | [11] |
| NME | 8/10[12] |
| HipHopDX |  [13] |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.0/10[14] |
| Rolling Stone | [15] |
| Slant Magazine | [16] |
| Spin | 7/10[17] |
Upon its release, Piñata was met with universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[7] Brian Josephs of Consequence of Sound gave the album a B+, saying "Piñata comes with just enough to reduce the daunting 17-track length to a non-factor, although it drags a bit with overt nostalgia toward the fourth quarter. But sometimes nostalgia is good, especially when it’s interpreted with the right amount of imagination."[9] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media gave the album an 8.0 out of 10, saying "It doesn't matter if Gibbs and Madlib were once considered artists playing to different audiences -- united in their uncompromising, independent-as-fuck visions, they put together something hardcore hip-hop heads on both sides should feel."[14] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Rolling Stone gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "At its best, Piñata recalls the dark-alley vibes of Raekwon's classic, RZA-produced 1994 debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... It's no coincidence that one of the strongest tracks features an excellently grim guest verse from Rae himself."[15] Joe Sweeney of Slant Magazine gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Piñata does suffer from a bloated middle, with a few too many beats derived from '70s slow jams (imagine Shaft with less Richard Roundtree gunplay and more Richard Roundtree "gunplay"). But by the time the title track hits its groove to close things out, it's clear that all the foreplay was worth it."[16] Paul MacInnes of The Guardian gave the album three out of five stars, saying "It doesn't always seem a perfect fit – Gibbs' rough edges scrap up against Madlib's strings, and sometimes Piñata sounds like a low-key affair. It also feels a little dated, because Madlib has been practicing this kind of project for a decade – alongside similarly independent-minded artists like J Dilla and Doom. A-list guest appearances from Raekwon, Scarface and Earl Sweatshirt enliven the recipe, however."[11]
David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Startling numbers like the block-rockin' then dissolving "Real" crop up throughout the album and make this project even more than a sum of its parts, and with the track list flowing smoothly as attractive guests (Danny Brown, Raekwon, Scarface, Mac Miller, and the list goes diversely and gloriously on) come and go, Piñata winds up excellent overall. Extra points are added for being a peerless success while still giving fans of Mobb Deep, Slum Village, Young Buck, Odd Future, and David Banner enough familiar touchstones for easy access."[8] Jay Balfour of HipHopDX gave the album four and a half stars out of five, saying "As Gangster Rap, Piñata is free of conceptual pretense; it’s a slice more than a thesis. It’s also a new benchmark for Gibbs and may end up as a career calling card. If nothing else, it quickly sounds like one of the year’s best."[18] Ben Cardew of NME gave the album an eight out of ten, saying "At its best – as on the heart-rending ‘Deeper’ – Piñata sounds like a close cousin to Raekwon’s classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (indeed Raekwon guests on Piñata track ‘Bomb’). And that is a compliment indeed. The only complaint, surely, is that the duo dropped the original title: Cocaine Piñata."[12] Kevin Jones of Exclaim! gave the album a seven out of ten, saying "While the beats and rhymes — helped along to varying degrees by guests Domo, Earl Sweatshirt, Ab-Soul and Danny Brown, among others — are as tight and efficient as you might expect, the record's many time-honoured hood tropes and (admittedly restrained) Blaxploitation elements simply fail to inspire through certain segments."[10]
Accolades
Complex named it the thirtieth best album of the first-half of 2014. Writing for them, Angel Diaz said, "Gibbs' machine gun raps and Madlib's left-field sampling style make for a beautiful match on Pinata; no bullshit, just a producer and a rapper feeding off each other. Roll something, sit back, and let Madlib and Gibbs take you on a soulful ride through the inner workings of two very distinct minds"[19]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 39 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 9,500 copies in the United States.[20]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Supplier" | 0:48 | |
| 2. | "Scarface" |
| 2:06 |
| 3. | "Deeper" |
| 3:19 |
| 4. | "High" (featuring Danny Brown) |
| 2:57 |
| 5. | "Harold's" |
| 2:49 |
| 6. | "Bomb" (featuring Raekwon) |
| 3:43 |
| 7. | "Shitsville" |
| 3:31 |
| 8. | "Thuggin'" |
| 3:46 |
| 9. | "Real" |
| 3:34 |
| 10. | "Uno" |
| 2:47 |
| 11. | "Robes" (featuring Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt) |
| 5:04 |
| 12. | "Broken" (featuring Scarface) |
| 4:08 |
| 13. | "Lakers" (featuring Ab-Soul and Polyester the Saint) |
| 4:30 |
| 14. | "Knicks" |
| 3:39 |
| 15. | "Shame" (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid) |
| 3:03 |
| 16. | "Watts" (featuring Big Time Watts) |
| 1:55 |
| 17. | "Piñata" (featuring Domo Genesis, G-Wiz, Casey Veggies, Sulaiman, Meechy Darko and Mac Miller) |
| 8:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18. | "Deep" |
| 2:03 |
| 19. | "Cold On the Blvd." |
| 1:19 |
| 20. | "Terrorist" |
| 1:12 |
| 21. | "The Morning After" |
| 2:52 |
Credits and personnel
Credits for Piñata adapted from AllMusic.[23]
- Ab-Soul — featured artist
- Eothen Alapatt — executive producer
- Peter Beste — cover photo
- BJ the Chicago Kid — featured artist
- Archibald Bonkers — A&R, executive producer
- Glenn "G-Wiz" Browder — engineer
- Danny Brown — featured artist
- Casey Veggies — featured artist
- Dave Cooley — mastering, mixing
- Meechy Darko — featured artist
- Josh Fadem — engineer
- Domo Genesis — featured artist
- Freddie Gibbs — primary artist, quotation author, rap
- G-Wiz — featured artist
- Kelly Hibbert — mastering, mixing
- Otis "Madlib" Jackson — beats, primary artist, producer
- Brad "Scarface" Jordan — featured artist
- Ben "Lambo" Lambert — executive producer
- Malcom "Mac Miller" McCormick — featured artist
- Henoch Moore — production coordination
- Polyester the Saint — featured artist
- Raekwon — featured artist
- Matthew Scott — photography
- Sulaiman — featured artist
- Earl Sweatshirt — featured artist
- Big Time Watts — featured artist
Chart positions
| Chart (2014) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (The Official Charts Company)[24] | 141 |
| UK R&B Albums (OCC)[25] | 16 |
| US Billboard 200[26] | 39 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[27] | 6 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[28] | 11 |
| US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[29] | 7 |
References
- ^ a b c "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Pinata – 3.18.14. Listen to "Robes" feat. Earl & Domo". Rappcats.com. 29 Jan 2014. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ Battan, Carrie (7 Feb 2014). "New Freddie Gibbs and Madlib 'Deeper'". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ a b Piñata (Media notes). Freddie Gibbs & Madlib. Madlib Invazion. 2014.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Vasquez, Andres (4 Apr 2013). "Freddie Gibbs Says A Dream Inspired His "Cocaine Pinata" Project With Madlib". HipHopDX.com. Retrieved 13 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Here's the Cover Art and Tracklist for Freddie Gibbs and Madlib's Upcoming Album "Piñata"". Complex. Retrieved 2014-12-16.
- ^ a b c Mosi Reeves. "Freddie Gibbs and Madlib on Cracking the Music Industry's 'Pinata'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
- ^ a b "Piñata Reviews". Metacritic. 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
- ^ a b Review by David Jeffries. "Piñata - Freddie Gibbs,Madlib". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
- ^ a b Josephs, Brian (2014-02-07). "Album Review: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Piñata". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ a b Jones, Kevin. "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata". Exclaim.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
- ^ a b Paul MacInnes. "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Piñata review – 'Odd couple rappers sharing a love of independence'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ a b Ben Cardew. "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib- Piñata". NME. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ Jay Balfour. "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata review". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
- ^ a b "Madlib / Freddie Gibbs: Piñata". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ a b By Simon Vozick-Levinson (2013-06-28). "Freddie Gibbs and Madlib 'Piata' Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ a b "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Piñata". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ Reeves, Mosi (2014-03-13). "Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, 'Pinata' Review". Spin. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
- ^ Balfour, Jay. "Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata". HipHop DX. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
- ^ http://www.complex.com/music/2014/06/best-albums-of-2014-so-far/freddie-gibbs-madlib-pinata
- ^ Tardio, Andres (2014-03-26). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 3/23/2014". HipHop DX. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
- ^ Ortiz, Edwin (7 Feb 2014). "Here's the Cover Art and Tracklist for Freddie Gibbs and Madlib's Upcoming Album "Piñata"". Complex.com. Retrieved 7 Feb 2014.
- ^ "Piñata Best Buy Exclusive 3/18 - CD". Best Buy. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
- ^ "Piñata - Freddie Gibbs, Madlib | Credits". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 20 Mar 2014.
- ^ Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK". Zobbel.de. Tobias Zywietz. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ^ "Freddie Gibbs Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
- ^ "Freddie Gibbs Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
- ^ "Freddie Gibbs Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
- ^ "Freddie Gibbs Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2014.