Every artist has their distinct inspirations, their source material that made them want to create. Sometimes, it comes about in extremely obvious ways. The end product ends up making you want to listen to the original inspiration instead. Then, there are the good artists who utilize their inspirations to help hone their own expression. For Freddie Gibbs, he wears his inspirations on his sleeve. His gruff delivery and grizzled exterior certainly recalls Tupac. However, he names two artists in particular that made Gibbs pick up the pen and start rapping.
Recently, he spoke on The Ryen Russillo Podcast around the 40 minute mark. There, the conversationalist for The Ringer prompts Gibbs on what makes up his roots in hip-hop. Coming from Gary, Indiana, there wasn’t a massive local act for him to model himself after. Consequently, his interests transcend the typical regional setup. Still, his choices reflect the exact kind of rapper he depicts on albums like Piñata and Alfredo: Scarface and 50 Cent.
Freddie Gibbs Credits Scarface and 50 Cent for Inspiring Him to Rap
“The first person to make me fall in love with rap, period as a child, was Scarface,” Gibbs explains. “When I heard ‘Mr. Scarface’ and [the Geto Boys’ 1991 album] ‘We Can’t Be Stopped,’ it clicked because I could relate to everything he was saying.”
Then, he goes much longer on 50 Cent, the kind of rapper that informs his rapping skills and his trolling instincts alike. “The first rapper that made me be like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna rap,’ is 50 Cent. I love what he’s doing. I’m gonna do that too. I admired his whole hustle about the game, like the G-Unit mixtape. Everything he was doing,” Freddie Gibbs explains. “The business side of it was impressive to me. It was an underdog story to me. That’s what made it interesting. Everyone was going against him. They shot him and all of that. He even made a song about it.”
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