Rocker Reacts to 'Pinata' by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib

It took a few tracks for me to start clicking with this album, so if you're a huge fan of Pinata and a little disappointed with my initial reactions, keep going. I start to get it 😊

Fun Fact: I convinced my Principal to let us use Thuggin’ by Freddie Gibbs for our graduation song

You're reaction to Scarface perfectly captures most people's first time listening to GIbbs. He has a style that seems so lowkey, yet the more you listen, the more you realize how menacing he is.

I was cracking up at you dissecting Harold's... he's just talking about his favorite chicken spot! Just great beats and rhymes man

Classic album! I compare Madvillainy and Pinata to a sitcom like Seinfeld, short stories of a characters life, not one particular storyline, each song being a "slice of life". Whether it's old school supervillains (Madvillainy) or gangster drug dealers from the 70s (Pinata), Madlib creates a perfect soundtrack for these misadventures

BJ the Chicago Kid is actually a feature on the track shame, he’s just mixed in so well and sounds so fitting that it sounds like a sample. Masterful production with his addition to the track

Don’t feel weird for finding it different. Freddie and Madlib as a combination were viewed as an unlikely pairing at the time of this release. Madlib was known more for his jazz sampling and Freddie was known for being a gangster rapper. It’s not what people expected.

To be fair Unos instrumental is disgustingly good

Those first tracks will definitely grow on you, scarface and deeper some of the hardest beats imo. Freddie really just knows how to ride a beat man

I learned from an interview with Madlib years ago that he was originally drawn to work with Freddie Gibbs because his energy reminded him of Tupac's. Can't find it rn, but the more you hear Freddie the more you start to understand the comparison.

Love this album to death, it came out my sophomore year of high school. Just found your channel a couple weeks ago, keep up the good work!

This is my favourite album! Im glad you liked it too. If really like Freddie, I would strongly recommend Alfredo and Bandana. Bandana is the second collab with Madlib. Overall really cool reaction. Keep it up!

I think this is one of the best hip-hop albums of all time, so I'm glad you started enjoying it a lot more from around the halfway point onwards. You're very right about Freddie mostly using his vocals as a sort of tool to go along with the instrumentals rather than using them to really say something deep or meaningful. As you pointed out, there are moments of reflection throughout the album, such as when he talks about his family and the regrets he sometimes has living the way he does, but in terms of the album as a whole, there really isn't much of that and the songs are very self-contained. I feel like all of this is what makes it an excellent album to put on anytime to just sit back and relax to, which is something about it that I really like.

1:09:54 - the chorus isn't sampled, but BJ did a great job to make it sound as if it is

Danny Brown- Atrocity Exhibition is a trip of an album. Feel like you might enjoy that one

Your breakdown of capitalism in America after listening to Broken is what this album, and by extension gangsta rap as a genre is ALL about. The gun talk, the drug talk, the sex and drugs and the flexing is a facade, it is all to entertain you, to get the true meaning behind that type of music is to read between the lines. I love how you actually understood that during your first bloody listen that is amazing. Sometimes a gangsta rapper like Freddie will make a track more obvious like Broken, but by sacrificing that subtlety he usually adds layers and stories on top so it doesn't feel dumbed down. That's what he did with Broken, with the story about his father, and how they both were caught in this system, the father chose to not be a slave and work his ass off to just break even (since there's no progress there in your current "class") by selling drugs as a crooked cop, and the fact that the station of Gary was cooperating with him, putting the drugs that they got from catching drug dealers back on the street by selling them and inflating the prices, to control the market only solidifies the corruption of the said system. While the son, because of youthful pride, arrogance, ego and underneath it all, just insecurity and feeling treated like shit, chose the route of a drug dealer. The route of being your own boss, making your own money and making a lot of it. Of course, that lifestyle is also not without it's downsides, he lost friends, family members, he had to kill or be killed, become a cold hearted monster to survive the game. Just an excellent depiction of that whole situation and the desperation of it. Just to add to all of this: when Freddie was making this album, he was still heavily into the drug game, selling a ton since Jeezy fucked him over with the label bullshit, and Freddie couldnt earn for living off of music. He was lucky his best friend and manager could pull the strings to get to Madlib, and Madlib liked Freddie so that's how we got Pinata. This album is what made Freddie's transition into a full time rapper, because it earned him enough money to justify leaving the drug game behind. Now Freddie is a millionaire, was nominated for a grammy recently, and is living his best life!

The bass on shitsville gets me every time That shit moves me so fucking hard

It’s cool to see you come around on the album over the course of the video. I’ve been listening to rap/hip-hop for years and sometimes I still struggle to get into the vibe of a record if I approach it with certain preconceptions. There are definitely things being said in the lyrics on here, but what makes it so enjoyable to me is really just how it sounds. Freddie Gibbs’ voice is like a rack of ribs and madlib’s production is some sweet bbq sauce. He could be dropping poop bars every other track and I wouldn’t even mind bc it feels so good to just dig yourself into the beat and feel the music.

Madlib has the greatest discography in Hip Hop. Shades of Blue is amazing

Great album! Hyped for your reaction🔥