However, on the rare occasions Gibbs chooses to hop on someone else’s shit, it’s always worth it. In any case, the second I saw the line up on everyone’s favorite Kanye track of 2016, I knew Gibbs would take a crack at that muthafucka. After all, he almost rapped over it on Pinata, before getting word that it was on hold for Kanye. When you’re probably the best and most versatile technician currently active in rap, and two of its most acclaimed artists go in over a beat from someone you collaborated with over a full album, then yeah, you’re probably gonna dust the mic off.
When it comes to rappers over Madlib beats, it’s MF Doom, then Gibbs, then whoever the fuck else and that’s the short and long of it. Typically, Gibbs repurposes Kanye and Kendrick’s theme in the most anti-social manner imaginable by running the gamut across topics ranging from groupie sex, leeches, cocaine metaphors, the rap game, snitches, and his All-Star weekend plans. He even devotes a few bars to his thoughts on hypothetical racial draft (shouts to Chappelle) that’s clever enough to reference Kanye’s old work and maybe more if you nerd out about rap theories as much as I do.
And yeah, he probably defenestrated your faves. Stack all the verses next to each other and be honest with yourself. Sure, the first two probably didn’t plan on competing against anyone that wasn’t on the original track but so it goes. Between the former’s terrible breath control and frequent forays off beat (that we’ve somehow found endearing for a decade) and utter hilarity of imagining the latter interact with groupies, I’m happy to indulge in my personal bias.
Whatever your thoughts on all the prose you just read are, I think we can agree on the following: it’s great to hear rappers just rap hard and well, and, second, Kanye, Kendrick, and Freddie are all really funny humans. Freddie’s the best rapper though. Fight me if you feel a way about that statement, bitch.
