‘Rearview’ is one of the most enduring joints on the album, Gibbs checking his mirror to recount the struggles he overcame to reach the top, including an addiction to tranquilisers and a stint in prison: ‘Pill habit heavy, hella bars I can’t even count / LA county jail, ain’t got my moms here to bail me out.’ Perhaps initially outshone by other ‘catchier’ hits on the album on first listening, Gibbs’ wistful tone, honesty and the sombre, heavy beat coalesce to form a hard-hitting, meditative hip-hop narrative – Gibbs in his element. However, after a full listen or two, it becomes apparent that a big asset of this release is its addictive hooks – you’re guaranteed to catch yourself mumbling a few Gibbsisms unbeknownst to yourself post listening and be left wondering where the heck did that come from?! On first listening, I admit to being a tad disappointed with ‘SOAD,’ the formerly super suave Madlib samples now replaced with booming trap bass. While not up to the same stratospheric standards of that release, ‘Shadow Of A Doubt’ manages to maintain Gibbs’ image as a credible and diverse gangster rapper – not an easy stance to pull off in the often flaky and glitzy realm hip-hop inhabits in the twenty-tens. * The ‘full album’ videos below are timestamped.Īfter dropping the flaking hip-hop instant classic ‘Pinata’ last year, I was intrigued to hear that Freddie ‘Gangsta’ Gibbs offered up another album effort last month, however this time without the aid of peerless beatsmith Madlib on the boards.
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