Credit: Carl Pocket

Freddie Gibbs may not be the most commercially successful emcee of all time. Still, the Gary lyricist has maintained a cult following with his projects. From Baby Face Killa to $oul $old $eparately, the lyricist has stayed relevant for over a decade with a consistent flow of material to his fanbase.

The 42-year-old Indiana artist first emerged in the mid-2000s, releasing mixtapes such as Full Metal Jackit. However, regarding record labels, Gibbs has had a bit of a tough time. After initially getting dropped by Interscope in 2006, he later signed with Jeezy’s label, CTE World.

While associated with Jeezy, Gibbs managed to secure features with Southern legends such as Juicy J, 2 Chainz, Curren$y and SpaceGhostPurrp, which boosted his profile highly and, ever since, he has been slowly acquiring more and more fans. Whether it’s via his social media antics or through his awards, he has most definitely turned heads.

Gibbs’ sound has changed over the years and is an amalgamation of various sonics. He has worked extensively with Madlib under the pseudonym MadGib, and together, they have made some legendary projects. However, Gibbs has also worked with more soulful hip-hop producers like Kaytranada.

When listening to his material, one can hear a mixture of sounds, and Gibbs himself has a pretty varied taste in music. That said, during an interview with Pitchfork, the Alfredo creator spoke about some of his favourite albums and earliest influences in his career.

Concerning rap music, one of the most influential MCs of all time for Gibbs was Scarface of the Geto Boys. Despite being from Indiana, Freddie Gibbs insisted that the Houston icon holds legendary status for him, explaining, “First of all, where we’re from—Chicago, Gary, that area—Scarface is a god to us. He can’t do no wrong. He’s everybody’s favourite rapper from that era. You had uncles or older brothers? He was their favourite.”

Referencing one specific album in particular, Gibbs told Pitchfork, “The Untouchable is probably my favourite Scarface album. I think I skipped school to buy that shit—the CD and the tape. At that time, I was real heavy into sports and trying to get enough credits to graduate high school.”

He continued, “[The Untouchable] was motivation. It was telling me everything about what was happening in my neighbourhood; and I didn’t wanna be that no more. It always gave me the sense of finding something to focus on so I didn’t fall victim to this shit.”

There was another old-school project that had a profound effect on a young Freddie Gibbs, but it was a West Coast classic. Recalling when he first heard it, Gibbs detailed, “My father was a big Ice Cube fan and we used to bump Kill at Will. Cube was dissing [N.W.A.] by that point—he’d already put out ‘No Vaseline’ and all that. When Dre split from Eazy-E, the thing between him and Cube kinda died down.”

Speaking about his love for California hip-hop, the Str8 Killa rhymer explained, “It was a real dynamic time in music. The West Coast had shit on lock for a minute in the early ‘90s. ‘Let Me Ride’ is my favourite song. You could pick any song from The Chronic to be your favourite, but that’s probably my favourite.”

Gibbs insisted there was one reason in particular he loved in West Coast hip-hop that no longer exists, asserting, “When Dr Dre walked into Snoop [Dogg’s] house and got him off the couch looking bummy and high as fuck, he was like, ‘Get your ass in the booth and record.’ It wasn’t all this putting on and flashy shit. You could easily relate to it. “

He concluded, “A rapper comes out now and already has a Lamborghini. I miss the story; I miss the struggle. You didn’t give me that. If you already made it to the mountaintop, why do I wanna hear your story?”