Top 5: Freddie Gibbs' five favourite modern rappers

Freddie Gibbs is a modern rapper with an old-school heart. His 2020 album, Alfredo, took Gibbs onto another level, with the record even receiving a Grammy nomination for ‘Best Rap Album’.

For Gibbs, there’s no question that he’s one of the best rappers currently operating, but there are also a handful of others that he admires. Speaking on the Bootleg Kev podcast in 2020, he opened up on this topic. Before even a moment of consideration, he named himself as one of the modern greats alongside Kendrick Lamar.

There’s a friendly rivalry currently underway between the two artists after Gibbs took umbrage with a recent bar by Lamar on ‘Family Ties’. On the track, Kendrick raps, “The Elohim, the rebirth, Before you get to the Father, you gotta holla at me first, bitch, Smokin’ on top fives, Muthafuck that album, fuck that single, Burn that hard drive (Burn that shit).”

In response, Gibbs hit back on the ‘Vice Lord Poetry’ freestyle at Lamar’s assertion and rapped, “The earth ain’t big enough for both of us, you gotta get done, They say they smokin’ top fives, but you ain’t burnt up the one. Fuck n***as talking ’bout? Like every time I hit the booth I don’t leave that bitch with a body count.”

Gibbs started his list of top five rappers with Kendrick Lamar and himself before mentioning Pusha T and Drake. After taking a minute to think about it, he threw Black Thought from The Roots on the list in the final spot. Kev then added Benny The Butcher and Killer Mike as his runners up, with which Gibbs agreed.

Pusha T and Gibbs collided in 2015 on ‘Palmolive’, which also featured Killer Mike. However, earlier this year, the Alfredo rapper revealed that he wants to cook up a whole joint project with Push. He replied to a tweet that read, “Freddie Gibbs VS Pusha T. Who’s the current king of coke rap?” and said, “Fuck a versus. I would make this album tho.”

Let’s hope that album becomes a reality. Although Gibbs could make a record with any of the names he mentioned, it would be an album of the year contender. See his full list below.

Freddie Gibbs’ five favourite modern rappers

• Freddie Gibbs
• Kendrick Lamar
• Pusha T
• Drake
• Black Thought