In the song, “Gat Dam”, he recalls fasting in an Austrian prison that didn’t provide Muslim-friendly meals. “I didn’t have nothing in there but God and my memories. “It was so easy to write the raps when I was in jail because I had the beats in my head already,” he said. “I was listening to Madlib’s beats when the fucking police arrested me,” Gibbs told Complex in an interview. Though he was later acquitted of these charges in September of that year, the mental, financial and even physical toll it had on him made the rapper question music. In June 2016, Gibbs was arrested in France for an alleged rape that took place in Austria. Bandana was largely written from prison in Austria And a part of that was because of Freddie’s arrest in 2016. While it ended up being a cult classic, no one really knew how the pairing was going to work out.Īnother reason Bandana sounds like and has the substance it does is that the album took five years to make.īoth Freddie and Madlib knew the quality of music and the magic they found in each other, opportunity just wasn’t in their cards until 2019. Here are five things you didn’t know about the making of Bandana: Bandana is a follow-up, NOT a sequel to PiñataĪs you should know by now, 2014’s Pinata was the last time Freddie and Madlib got together. That’s why we had to do some digging to see what other factors that the average listener and naked eye might have missed that went into setting this album apart. You know it from the moment it starts playing to each transition throughout. INSTANT CLASSIC.Īlbums like Bandana don’t come along too often. Heads up: there’s a new freddie gibbs & madlib record out, and it’s greatįreddie Gibbs and Madlib combined gangsta rap, nostalgic instrumentation with a touch of pro black messages all in one.

It’s one that sits with you after and one that you can’t wait to repeat.Īs is evinced in the response which has been both loud and diverse. From the hard-banging thrillers like “Flat Tummy Tea” to somber reflections like in “Gat Dam” you can tell and just know that this project feels different.

Bandana freddie gibbs album cover