Piñata

Not my thing. 2 stars.

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.

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.