Hip Hop has become a fictitious braggadocios bravado driven excuse for music. Once the corporate vultures recognized the benefits of exploiting young impoverished artists, the integrity of the music suffered miserably. But fans of the culture should not fret, because beneath the ashes there are still some artists that evoke passion, hunger, and truth within one of the  most popular genres on the planet. Freddie Gibbs is one of those rare MCs that is believable, knowledgeable and eager to spread his thoughts with pure Hip Hop. “The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs” isn’t a mixtape that’s gonna blow listeners away with content; it doesn’t contain anything that hasn’t been done before, but then again that’s not really what a mixtape is for. What Gibbs did was show that he can master the current landscape of Hip Hop while adding his own elements to the game that place him far above the average watered down rapper.

The mixtape starts off with Just Blaze produced ”GI Pride”, an ode to Gibbs’ hometown: Gary, Indiana. He paints a concrete picture of his city with descriptions of the everyday grind and the struggle of growing up in a poverty-stricken community with lines like “Before you muthafuckas bother me, just take a look at this economy, because economically we at the bottom.” This was a great track to kick off the mixtape and introduce the world to his sound and what molded him. In spite of the traps such as drugs, prison and guns put in place to halt his success, he still managed to rise above it and bring listeners his story. The next track that really stands out is “Never Ending Cycle”, here Gibbs questions himself in the chorus “When will I ever wake up?” over smooth production. Gibbs recognizes the conditions that  surround him that provoke violence and murder, but he also places the responsibility of change on himself with lyrics like “But I got out the streets to do this shit for a livin, as rappers we should pay attention to the message we sendin’.” No matter how bad things appear in the system meant to destroy, the onus remains on the individual to better the situation. 

“The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs” has songs for all fans of Hip Hop to nod their heads too; from the hardest gangstas in the mood for that hood music to cats just looking for some music to ride to. “What it B Like” produced by Polow da Don is one that can get the whole club crackin as Gibbs spits over Polow’s trademark base lines questioning people from all walks of life “What it B like?” Gibbs tells a couple of stories on the mixtape that contain a definitive beginning, middle and end in “Queen (Luv u to Death)”, a tale about a chick who seems like the perfect woman but later turns out to be a conniving thief, and “Close Your Eyes” which is a story about his experiences from childhood to adulthood. This mixtape can appeal to any advocate of Hip Hop and good music; Gibbs shows a rare tenacity on the mic that has been missing in the commercialized state of rap music. Will Freddie Gibbs stay true to himself once to spotlight shines on him? Will his music remain the same once the major record labels come calling with promises to take him to the next level while trying to change the very essence of his sound?  Only Freddie Gibbs knows the answers to those questions, but what I do know is that I just listened to the whole mixtape for the third time while writing this and I didn’t hear an ounce of conformity in him.