March Madness Day 8: Freddie Gibbs - Pronto EP

Cover Art for Freddie Gibbs' "Pronto" EP

Freddie Gibbs. Freddie Gibbs is a rapper from Gary, Indiana. Freddie Gibbs is probably most known for his 2014 breakout collaboration album "Piñata" with legendary producer Madlib. Prior to "Piñata", Gibbs was bubbling in the underground with a slew of revered, street oriented mixtapes such as "Baby Face Killa", "Cold Day in Hell" and "The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs". After "Piñata", Gibbs followed up with a small EP called "Pronto" released the following year in 2015.

Freddie, at the time, had always kept his fans tided over in between full length album releases and 2015 was no exception. He released the EP "Pronto" in March 2015 (actually, after some research, I've realized that Pronto was released 3 years ago today, yes March 9, 2015, so, that's something considering legendary dead rapper The Notorious B.I.G. was also killed on this date 21 years ago) while he completed his next solo album "Shadow of a Doubt" which dropped in November of that same year. 

Will I ever review full length albums again? Or will I just be that guy who only reviews EPs of artists he's already reviewed in order to cut down on the amount he has to write in the artist's background info/introduction? Who knows...anyway, let's review this small 3 song EP.

1. Pronto

Straightforward banger of a song. Freddie hops on the Mikhail & Pops produced instrumental and vehemently declares that 'Thug life never die, nigga' which I interpret as a tribute to the late great Tupac Amaru Shakur. The song is catchy, very surface level however as Freddie rhymes about violence, drug dealing and general gansterisms. If this EP is your introduction to Gibbs', than Gibbs would just strike you as a run-of-the-mill rapper with a slightly deeper voice...but you'd be mistaken. 

You have to take into consideration that Gibbs just came off releasing "Piñata" which had Gibbs rapping over not-808 laden and bass heavy "banger" type instrumentals. So really, this "Pronto" EP serves as a reminder to his fans that he can still get back on his BS if he really wanted. Sometimes it feels great to just retread into familiar territory before venturing out again. The song is nothing special, not bad, but not that memorable either.

If you have a speaker system in your car, this song will sound nice in it.

2. White Range

We now move into track titled "White Range" which is one of my favorite Freddie Gibbs songs ever. Set to a smooth-as-butter Pops produced instrumental with a well placed chopped and screwed Drake sample from the "Take Care" era loosie "Free Spirit"  (fun fact: I actually discovered "Free Spirit" by Drake through researching who was performing the hook in this song, thanks for that, Gibbs!) Gibbs delivers a smooth track about drugs, girls and cruising in your car with the two former vices on your mental. 

Freddie rides the beat like he was born to rap on this instrumental. I love when Gibbs' goes:

"On the outside I'm too cool, but I'm broken up undercover

Hide my feelings through my drug habits

And I based my raps off my interactions with drug addicts

And drug dealers"

Lines like those above illustrate why I like Gibbs' as a rapper. He's more than just your "yeah,  turn up, I do drugs, shoot people and sell drugs" rapper, although he may come across as that at first listen. I like Freddie because (like Mozzy) he realizes the reality of the situation he's in and addresses that, if only for a brief moment, in his lyrics, the darker side of this fast life that he's portraying in his raps. I like when a rapper can step outside of his ego, if only for a second, and address some problems with his situation that he or she may find themselves in, it makes for a compelling listen.

I'm not saying every rapper has to repent for every questionable action they've done, but I appreciate self awareness in lyrics and street oriented rappers with a self aware side like Freddie Gibbs and Mozzy are definitely compelling to listen to because of those self aware lyrics.

But yeah, "White Range" really smooth, laid back track that you can put on when your driving on the freeway at midnight and there's little to no cars in your vicinity.

The ideal scenario in which to play "White Range" by Freddie Gibbs in.

3. Diamonds (feat. Dana Williams)

Freddie teams up with frequent collaborator, and R&B singer Dana Williams. Dana's vocals are featured on this song, but her vocals are more apart of the production than anything else. It's similar to how Hannah Williams's vocals were sampled and used as part of the beat for Jay Z's song "4:44". In other words, her voice is used as atmosphere as Freddie Gibbs is rapping rather than Freddie rapping and then Freddie shutting up and letting Dana sing the hook or something to that effect.

Anyway, the hook is the best thing about this song, Freddie raps two unmemorable verses but the hook on here is pretty cool. A late night banger if you will, something to play as your pulling up to the crib past midnight after a fun night. This would be great to play right after "White Range" as there's something hypnotizing and nocturnal about "Diamonds". I see why Dana's voice was used the way it was.

Basically, I like the song, and if you enjoyed "White Range" I see no reason as to why you shouldn't enjoy this song too.

Overall:

My reaction to Freddie Gibbs' "Pronto" EP:

I remember Feefo from Dead End Hip Hop enjoying this song, and I see why, the songs on here are made for a car ride to somewhere (hopefully) fun like a party, the club or otherwise. I think this was the perfect thing for Gibbs to drop post "Piñata" now that he had attracted the pitchfork hipster needledrop crowd. A reminder to old fans and a warning to new ones that trap type instrumentals are what "I (I'm speaking as Freddie Gibbs) came up off of and just because I did a one off collaboration with Madlib over soul samples, don't think I've left the bass heavy production alone completely" or at least that's what I thought Freddie was saying when  dropping this EP after "Piñata" with Madlib.

It's more than likely that he just wanted to get give fans new music, but I like my theory better. 

Favorite Track(s): White Range, Diamonds

Least Favorite Track: Pronto

Score: 6/10

Listen to Freddie Gibbs' "Pronto" EP here.

written by Joseph Sanker on 3/9/18

Follow me on all the socials regarding this blog:

~ Facebook [linked here]

~ Twitter [linked here]

~ Instagram [linked here]

~ Subscribe to the mailing list!

~ Leave a comment on this blog itself! Trust me, I get notified of everything. (Just scroll down and you should see an option to post a comment or click on "No comment" to leave the first comment.

Until next time! Peace out! One.

Written by Joseph Sanker II