Calmly on the Edge of Calamity

We’re not the first to be reminded of the ’90s by Freddie Gibbs, but it’s worth saying again. A lot of his beats recall the era’s many facets, but the way he spits has a similar quality too. In a laid back mood, he flips densely packed rhymes facilitating gloomy goon stories encased in daily struggles. But it’s less intentionally a throwback than it is simply heavily influenced. The Gary, Indiana, bred emcee has been brightly shining on our radar since “The Ghetto“. And Str8 Killa, his new EP released this month, brings a similar aura. The lead track, “National Anthem (Fuck The World)”, has a hook that limits it – but the verses are fire, switching up in delivery and building in intensity every few bars or so. It’s available free on RCRDLBL. The two tracks below are also from the EP, and were released in low bit rate mixed versions from his recent mixtape, Str8 Killa No Filla. Despite the title, the mix mosdef has some filler, but not these two. (Photo by Alex Welsh).