Freddie Gibbs & Madlib Bandana Album Review

07/02/2019

Freddie has already given his notice that Bandana is album of the year and his case is made pretty strong with how great it turned out. If sequels are known for never living up to the original, then Bandana is the exception. There is no bigger compliment to be payed to this album because that is something special. The problem with letting an album build anticipation over a long period of time, is the hype for your album gives it a status that is almost mythical and near impossible to not fall under expectations. For example if Jay Electronica were to ever release a full length LP, the chances of it being a disappointment are high. After so much time has passed the album can't just be good, it has to be great. Anything less will be seen as a flop, which is why it is rarely ever a good idea to let hype build for your album too long, unless you know it is worth the wait.

This is exactly where Freddie and Madlib were with their new album. It had been five years since they dropped the critically acclaimed Pinata, an album so great it appealed to two completely different demographics in it's own unique way. Freddie is the smooth street rapper with one of the best voices in modern rap, and Madlib is on the more unconventional side of Hip Hop, it is bizarre yet also beautiful how well their styles blended together. They had to recapture the spark that created what many people say is one of the best rap albums of the decade, and that is exactly what they did with Bandana. The only track that is fairly underwhelming is the first half of "Half Manne Half Cocaine." Freddie's performance here is a bit plain until the beat switch midway through the track. Madlib samples "Dust A Sound Boy" by Super Beagle. That is where this album really picks up and never goes back down.

The sound of Bandana is uninhibited and definitely uncatered to the MC rapping over it, and Freddie again is unbothered by this. Madlib is doing what he does by sampling obscure gems and crafting something as unique out of them. On "Cataracts" Madlib samples "Teach Me How" by Wee and Freddie gives one of his best lyrical performances on the album. He uses alliteration throughout the track with lines like "fuck Generation X, this generation genocide," and consistently has religious references throughout the track also. "Crime Pays" (the third single from Bandana) sees Freddie paint a pretty disturbing picture of his friend dying from aids with the line "homeboy just caught HIV, he lived and died by his ho," and him possibly alluding to also sleeping with the girl that apparently has the disease with the following line "have we ever hit the same bitch before ain't nobody know." This tracks also samples "Teach Me How" by Wee and samples "Free Spirit" by Walt Barr also.

Bandana has very few features, but the ones it does have really serve their purpose. Unfortunately Killer Mike doesn't have a verse on "Palmolive," but he delivers an excellent hook that fits him perfectly. You would think due to the similar subject matter Freddie and Pusha would have a ton of tracks together, yet this is the first and hopefully not the last. Freddie's verse is incredible and shows how good of a songwriter he is. He is political on this track, he uses storytelling on this track, his verse is a stand out for the album. Pusha also has a very solid verse and Madlib samples "Cry Of A Dreamer" by The Sylvers. The track has a very soulful feel to it. There is also a very funny skit as the outro on the track which is a bit from comedian Dap Sugar Willie's album "The Ghost Of Davy Crockett."

On "Giannis" Freddie calls back to the infamous "bitch, real Gs move in silence like lasagna" line from Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot" in a hilarious way, mentioning a NBA player with a notoriously hard to pronounce name Giannis Antetokounmpo saying "real gs move in silence like Giannis" which is hard not to laugh at. Anderson Paak also has a great feature, giving the track something extra with his vocals, and Madlib cuts some more samples into the production this time of "Aasman Ke Neeche" by S.D. Burman, Kishore Kumar, and Lata Mangeshkar, and the classic James Brown track from 1968 "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." "Education" is another soulful track and one that samples "Dance Music" by R.D. Burman. Black Thought, Freddie Gibbs, and Yasiin Bey all deliver incredible, passionate, historical, lesson filled verses that will give you chills in message, and wow you in technical skill. Multis, parts of alliteration, rhyme schemes all blended together seamlessly by the best of the best.

Against all odds Freddie Gibbs and Madlib allowed their follow up to Pinata to build expectation for years and managed to put out something that does not feel lesser than the original. Bandana is Freddie and Madlib strengthening their bond even more. They doubled the reps they were doing on Pinata and in that have made their chemistry even stronger. If they do decide to keep putting out albums together they have set the bar they have to live up to immensely high, but with Bandana they proved they can exceed expectations and continue to release some of the best rap music of today.

Rating 8/10

-CHASECDHIPHOP