Freddie Gibbs & Madlib-Piñata

Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs has released his collaboration album with producer Madlib and I have to say it completely shattered my expectations. While I do listen to some of his songs, I never really considered myself a Freddie Gibbs fan. However, after this album my notion of him has completely changed. Piñata is far and away the best album of 2014 so far and the best rap album I've heard for a minute. While Gibbs doesn't really change up his flow drastically, he doesn't need to. He is clearly comfortable in his rhymes and they work well on every single song on the album. Combining his bars with Madlibs incredible beats makes for a bunch of memorable tracks. Piñata also features some impressive features, such as Scarface, Raekwon, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, Ab-Soul, Domo Genesis, BJ The Chicago Kid, and more. Besides a few exceptions, though, these tracks are actually a bit weaker than his solo tracks. Often when another rapper comes in on a song, whether I like them or not, I find myself missing Gibbs voice. Some of the rappers just don't go along with the mood of the album that Gibbs and Madlib set up. It should be noted that I could be the only one that feels this way, cause when I look at the tracks by popularity on iTunes the most purchased are the big collab ones. Either way, every track on this album is still great, Piñata is undoubtedly a must-listen.

Best Tracks: "Shitsville", "Harold's", "Deeper", "Broken", "Piñata."