Song of the Year-Easts​ide Moonwalker by Freddie Gibbs produced by GMF

by Dan-O

All of the debate about Kanye West’s new album Yeezus versus Jay-z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail obscures the real best rap album of 2013 so far from its rightful spotlight….and that’s Freddie Gibbs #ESGN (Evil Seeds Grow Naturally). If you want the kind of seething angry blackness that Yeezus goes for but you want the high lyrical standard of a Jay verse, #ESGN has both.

Not only that but on tracks like Eastside Moonwalker you can trade in the name brand name checking for dealing drugs to people in mobile homes, the model banging brags for admissions that Gibbs isn’t pretty at all and his game is all mental. This is a song that begins with the line “Lifestyles of the insane, Eastside Thug N I’m the sh_t you a sh_t stain.”

Freddie Gibbs is known for his gangsta rap and that flow, he’s had angry thuggish projects before but this one is more desolate and better than any that came before it. This is partially due to the falling out with Young Jeezy (never thought that would work out) and the feeling that runs through the nineteen tracks (on Itunes they have more, I bought mine through DJBooth) that it’s Gibbs and his people versus the world.

My greatest take away from #ESGN which is exemplified by Eastside Moonwalker is how rhythmic Gibbs is now. He’s not stacking staccato bars he’s turned them into a twisted double time lullaby. How great is it that he’s rapping about the grungiest things while incorporating his musical connection to Michael Jackson (both are from Gary Indiana)? He absolutely wrecks 99% of everything he touches nowadays, so much so that when I heard this I knew I wanted to spotlight a track but couldn’t come up with which one. Moonwalker is the one because its a reminder that he doesn’t need big features or elaborate beats to make gold. He is gold. The songs on #ESGN all follow each other so closely and fit into this singular sprawling puzzle of frustration and pride. All the beats pulse and sneak up on you dangerously.

If you are looking to make the best album of 2013 you need to listen to Eastside Moonwalker and ask yourself how you can do better.

Stream or Buy #ESGN below

http://www.djbooth.net/index/albums/review/freddie-gibbs-esgn