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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Piñata

Freddie Gibbs

Madlib

2014

Piñata
Album Summary

This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.

Piñata is the first collaborative studio album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs and record producer Madlib, also known as MadGibbs. It was released on March 18, 2014, by Madlib Invazion. Entirely produced by Madlib, the 17-track LP features contributions from Raekwon, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, Domo Genesis, Scarface, BJ the Chicago Kid, Ab-Soul, Casey Veggies, Meechy Darko and Mac Miller, among others. The album was recorded by Josh "The Goon" Fadem and Glenn "G-Wiz" Browder between January 2011 and October 2013. It was mixed and mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters, except for "Shame" and "Terrorist", mixed by Kelly Hibbert. Piñata was preceded by three EPs including Thuggin' (2011), Shame (2012) and Deeper (2013). The album received widespread acclaim from critics and debuted at number 39 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 9,000 copies in the United States.

Wikipedia

Rating

3

Votes

91

Genres

  • Hip Hop

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Reviews

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Jul 26 2024
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5

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Deeper, High, Harold’s, Shitsville, Thuggin, Real, Robes, Lakers, Piñata

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Oct 02 2024
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5

A fantastic album that’s always fun to listen to, which is partially why I picked it for my album. This was really my third choice as the first two were already selected. I felt the list lacked a lot of strong modern rap music that has shaped modern culture. This was my choice as for me it’s a culmination of the gangster rap and lyrical conscious rap by Gibbs mixed with funky and soulful best productions of Madlib. This album flows so smoothly and its biggest drawbacks to me is some of the skit portions at the end of songs. Other than that it has impeccable features from older and newer artists to really make this a great album of the past and future. O’Doyle rules 9.3/10

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Jul 22 2024
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3

I don't really see what anyone thinks Freddie Gibbs brings to the game that 2Pac didn't already do 20+ years earlier.

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Jul 22 2024
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4

Many good vinyl records will reveal some of their character to the light at a lucky angle. Dynamic range allowed by plastic and managed by master becomes texture; Formal boundaries unevenly stripe. Piñata has the organic protrusions of that kind of object, thanks I think to Madlib. Gibbs swaggers over the beats, but he doesn't show up in the skits as some kind of character. Thus, it's a record - and not a short one! - in a totally classic mode, still the right amount of surprising, a true collaboration.

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Jul 22 2024
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4

Great modern hip-hop LP with well-sampled beats and a who's who of guest stars. Does feel a bit crowded and overlong as a result, meaning Gibbs' own personality here is a bit hard to decipher against MadLib's stylings, but given the stellar production and instrumentals (+ poor showings from the more recent selections on the official list), I'm willing to give this a high rating for being such a rock-solid and fun album.

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Jul 23 2024
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4

A bit of a gap for a hip hop head, filled. I enjoyed it, probably would have benefitted from a little more sonic diversity but the features kick ass more often than not.

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Oct 06 2024
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4

Oooh I'd been meaning to do Freddie Gibbs for a while, so cheers to whoever put this in. Great beats, stacked with guests, I really enjoyed it end to end.

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Nov 25 2024
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4

This is not my genre so when this 1 hour album showed up last night on my to-do list I was not excited. I started this up on a slow Sunday morning and was immediately interested by the opening. It had a strong, 70s cinematic flair that would end up being often explicit throughout the album. Hmmmmm… I’m liking it. As the album went on these songs played around with timing and delivered great rapping with 70s-inspired grooviness that I fell in love with. I had the opportunity to follow along with some of the songs’ lyrics and was impressed when I did. It’s a little tough for this genre to win me over but this one did so at the jump and kept me engaged for the full hour. I don’t often feel like listening to a rap album, but when I do this one will be on the list.

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Nov 28 2024
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4

Once again Madlib proves he can do no wrong and the flow of every verse on this album is great but there were also quite a few corny lyrics (mainly the La song) and in general I didn’t vibe with it as much as the Mf doom I’ve been getting recently. I think watts is my fav, I think

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Jul 23 2024
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2

A lot of f*ck, sh*t, b*tch going on here but I fail to see the relevance of this album. Sorry.

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Jul 22 2024
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3

I like the beats more than the rhymes, but it's an interesting blend.

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Jul 22 2024
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3

It was cool to hear a modern rap album that I didn't hate. This was pretty cool. Maybe one day I'll listen to it again. 3/5.

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Jul 23 2024
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3

There's an easy flow here to groove to though I lost a lot of the lyrics with the loose, mumbly rapping. The relentless crudity wore thin. I didn't dislike it but doesn't hit the standard of other Madlib collaborations like Madvillain.

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Jul 23 2024
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3

Not really for me but its not bad 3 Shitsville kinda banger Ok its fckn good

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Jul 23 2024
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3

I'm always a bit sceptical on hiphop albums. But this one wasn't all too bad

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Jul 29 2024
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3

Not a fan of the gangster rap. Gibbs vocal tone is ok. The production and noises are quite good, but overall not my taste.

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Jul 31 2024
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3

Well-crafted and engaging, with an assertive but easygoing flow. Lyrics are vivid and grim, and a bit much for my taste.

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Aug 05 2024
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3

This is a pretty solid album with great beats by Madlib. Stylistically, I was reminded a lot of Wu Tang (having Raekwon on helped) and lot of Tupac. In a way, it was nice to hear these styles together, yet at the same time, I wonder why this was even needed. While the work is solid, it must made me want to listen to Wu Tang and Tupac. I wouldn't have believed this came out in 2014 if I didn't already know that going in.

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Aug 27 2024
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3

I quite enjoyed this hip hop album. Like many of the genre, I'm not a fan of the skits. The music is eclectic and cool, though, and the skits can be skipped. Rating: 3.5 Playlist track: High Date listened: 29/08/24

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Oct 04 2024
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2

It seems well crafted, lyrics, beats, however the content itself isn't in my wheelhouse. It ends up being a bit more regrettable. Pass on this.

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Oct 04 2024
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2

It's a smooth album with some good beats, but the language is just a bit much for me. Somewhere along the way, he samples TLC... a bit weird.

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Oct 12 2024
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2

No. Can appreciate what he's doing here, but it's distinctly not for me.

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Nov 28 2024
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2

It's just a guy saying "mother fucker" and "bitch" for an hour

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Jul 23 2024
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1

Quite boring, hypnotizing hip hop because of how repetitive it is. Maybe the lyrics have content but they are irrelevant in the face of such simple music.

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Dec 22 2024
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1

A lot of things that should never have been said are said on this vile album.

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