Freddie Gibbs Interview: SXSW 2010

A New Yorker magazine reporter recently declared Freddie Gibbs "the one rapper I would put money on right now." He was also named as one of XXL's "Freshman 10 for 2010," and had both of his 2009 mixtapes praised by the likes of Pitchfork, YRB magazine and the LA Weekly. Hailing from a crime plagued section of Gary, Ind., Freddie is a survivor of, as he puts it, "many misfortunes and mishaps." Since his arrival in Los Angeles in 2005 Freddie has been hard at work with an impressive range of producers on a myriad of albums and mixtapes. His 2010 plans include another tape, an EP, a full length album and a performance at SXSW. We spoke to the emcee from his home in sunny California about his hometown, music, and the difference between albums and mixtapes.

Describe your sound in your own words.

"Definitely gangster rap. It's got that classic gangster rap sound to it. You can definitely hear the influences of the nineties in my music. It's that sound, on a high level, and its also music that's actually saying something."

What are your musical influences?

"I grew up listening to Scarface. I'm coming down into Texas, hopefully he's down there at South by Southwest, I'd love to get the opportunity to meet him. The music he constructed helped shape my life. He's definitely my most vivid rap influence. Also, definitely the old school music; Stevie Wonder is one of my favorites, Marvin Gaye, everything from the Isley Brothers, you know, things of that nature. That and classic gangster rap -- the whole Rap-A-Lot era, Tupac, of course. The real hard hitters, the Ice Cubes of the world, not these fly by night motherf---ers."

How did you come up with your stage name?

"Freddie is my real first name. Gibbs is not my real last name. I just, you know, was giving that s--- to cops, didn't want to give them my real name, so my homies kept calling me Gibbs after a while."

What's your biggest vice?

"I don't know, probably my weed habit. That's really it. I'm a spiritual dude, I've definitely had my misfortunes and mishaps in the past. For the most part I try to keep the least amount of bad habits that I can. I don't drink a lot, I'll drink from time to time, other than that it's just the weed."

So what can people look forward to from you in the near future?

"I got a new mixtape coming out called 'Str8 Killa, No Filla,' coming out the end of this month. I've also got a record coming out with Alchemist, ' The Devil's Palace,' that's a whole EP I'm about to drop with him. Then, after that I'm gonna come with a whole new album."

What's the difference between and album and a mixtape?

"I don't know, I approach them in the same light. The only difference between an album and a mixtape to me is probably the beats you select, on a mixtape you probably use older beats, you ain't worrying about sample clearances and all that s--- because you ain't trying to sell it, it's for free, just for promotion. With an album, you know, it's more business behind that, it's sample clearances, label doing this, this producer getting paid, this person getting paid, this point system, that's when it becomes a business. So it's like the mixtape side of the business is the fun things and the albums are politics. When I decide what company to put this next album out with, or not, I'm going to have to deal with the politics. That political s--- is what I don't want to deal with. It's a good thing, though, I definitely want to monetize the music that I'm putting out there. So it's definitely a good thing to put out an album, something people can hold close and purchase."

Who was your first celebrity crush?

"Probably Janet Jackson, she's from my hometown. Man, I loved all of her videos, 'Black Cat' and 'Pleasure Principle.' I've loved her since she was on 'Good Times.'"

Do the Jacksons still have much of a presence in Gary?

"Not at all. Part of the reason I'm calling my album 'The Devil's Palace' is because of The Palace, this old run down theatre in my hometown. It's a broke down area, there's no real influence of them on our city. They never really came back there. They did their thing, you know, don't get me wrong, I love the Jacksons, it's no shot at them but there was no interaction between them an our city when Michael was hot. There has been more interaction since he died, but It shouldn't take someone dying for a connection to be made between them and their city. I mean, everyone knows they're from there. Problem is, some of them forgot they were from there. But it's all good.."

It's gotta be easy to do, to get wrapped up in your own world...

"Yeah, I understand that, I don't live in Gary full time, but that's where I rep hard, to the fullest. I'm from there born and raised, you know? But I'm always on the road ... what I'm doing is to try to advance my city."

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

"I still use paper, a lot of these rap motherf---ers claim they come off the top of their head.. oh, you mean like music that I like? Damn, that's crazy, lemme see.. I don't know, all the s--- that I f--- with I'm pretty confident about. I don't sneak and listen to no s---, everything I bump I'm pretty confident about. I'll bump it in my car with my girl or my homies or whatever. Even if its an R&B track. I'll bump R&B in my car with my homies, I don't care. You know there ain't no question about me or none of the stuff I listen to, it's all quality stuff in my iPod."

Wait, back to the notebook thing. With all those songs, you must have a ton of notebooks.

"My managers keep them, they do something with them, cause I don't even write them in a set notebook, I have so many different notebooks. I'll write them in somebody else's notebook, I just have loose raps on paper. It don't matter what I write them on. I used to write raps on bank receipts."

Beatles or Stones?

"I like the Stones, and the Beatles, definitely. They influenced a lot of the music that's out today, so I have a lot of respect for them. I'll say Beatles. I like both, but I like the Beatles. I like Paul. Yeah, Sir Paul McCartney, that's the s---."


Matthew Wilkening is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.