(AllHipHop News) Gary, Indiana raised rapper Freddie Gibbs recently spoke about his inspiration behind Cocaine Piñata, a collaborative project in the works with famed producer Madlib.
In the Duck Down Visuals piece released on RedBullUSA.com, Gibbs stated that he was heavily influenced by the Los Angeles rap trio Strong Arm Steady, who worked with MadLib on their album In Search of Stoney Jackson, released on Stones Throw Records in 2010.
“I got the inspiration to do this project from my homeboy Krndn (formerly Krondon), and Phil [the Agony] and Mitchy [Slick] of Strong Arm Steady. I saw what they did with Mad Lib and they kickin’ straight street sh*t,” Gibbs explained. “So they really inspired me to really get in the lab with MadLib to be honest.”
“Mad Lib already has a huge fan base already, so for me to do it was a no brainer pretty much. Once we dropped ‘Thuggin’ I think people started to be like, ‘Ah s**t, you know they kind of got something here.’ That’s when I did too – that was the first song we ever did. I hadn’t really rapped on s**t like that and it was like a challenge for me lyrically, so I just took it and I think I knocked it out the park. Ever since then we’ve been dropping records and people have been gravitating to them, so we gonna drop the full length ‘Cocaine Piñata’ and it’s going to be dope,” Freddie said.
Gibbs also candidly spoke about his experiences with police brutality and violence. Having been a victim of it himself and having lost a friend named Kinnell MaGee to police brutality, Gibbs makes an effort in his music to put a magnifying glass on police brutality and its wrongs.
“The police murdered my friend in front of his family and everything. They wasn’t compensated for nothing you know really at all. And I just think the police got away with a smooth one, and I talk about that s**t and I try to bring it that life every chance I get. Just not with him, theres people getting killed by police every day, you know what I mean? I just think that’s f**ked up, the way that they abuse their power – when you get pulled over by a police officer your life is in that n***a hands,” Freddie Gibbs said.
For all those wondering, Gibbs also made it clear that he is officially a former CTE affiliate and focused on his current ESGN record label.
“I’m not really a free agent though, I’m a boss man, so whatever. I don’t even wanna sign none of you n****s, so don’t ask,” Gibbs joked.