MadGibbs

2011–13: Thuggin', Shame & Deeper

On November 18, 2011, at the Madlib Medicine Show live event at Mighty in San Francisco, California, the producer brought out Freddie Gibbs and announced their debut collaborative EP titled Thuggin'. The project has been concealed for at least six months until it was made available for sale at the event.

Gibbs also debuted the title track and "Deep" off his collaborative set with Madlib. Following the surprise performance, five hundred copies of the limited-edition EP were sold out at the venue. The EP was exclusively on sale at Madlib's shows, but was made available for retail purchase on November 21, 2011 through Madlib's Madlib Invazion imprint. The EP contains two main vocal tracks, instrumentals and two bonus beats. On January 16, 2012, the single's video, directed by Jonah Schwartz, premiered online.

Speaking with Jay-Z's Life + Times, Freddie Gibbs decoded a few lines from "Thuggin'", explaining how he extracted from personal experiences in Gary, Indiana for the track: "The song is 'Thuggin'. First line, I say, 'We're not against rap, but we're against those thugs.' Speaking about how society wasn't against rap music but against the thug element of it. I felt like that's what I represent," he said. "What I'm rapping is what I'm living. I'm using rap as a vehicle to get me away from that type of living."

"You may get to that level, selling drugs and engaging in certain activities in the street," he continued. "You might end up selling drugs to one of your family members, hell, you might end up shooting one of your family members. The drug and the crime shit really deteriorated our community - my community, at least. And then I say something about my uncle was addicted to drugs in the verse. That's real shit. That's a true example of a king to a fiend, someone who was a prominent and hard-working guy in the community that went from not having work and being addicted to crack cocaine."

Preceded by their 2011 EP, Shame was released on July 10, 2012 through Madlib Invazion in both digital and 12-inch vinyl formats. The 8-track EP includes two vocal tracks, "Shame" featuring singer BJ the Chicago Kid and "Terrorist", as well as instrumentals, a cappellas and two bonus beats by Madlib.

Following up on their EPs Thuggin' and Shame, Deeper, released September 24, 2013, serves as the final EP in the trilogy before the release of their full-length LP, Piñata.

2014–present: Piñata, Knicks (Remix) & Bandana!!

In a press release, Freddie Gibbs described Piñata as "a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax". "I will show you my flaws, I'll show you what I've done wrong and what I've fucked up at. I don't regret shit, but I'll show you the things I'm not proud of. I'm about to show niggas how to rap again. Everybody else is going to fall in line." Additionally, Madlib, added "My stuff, it ain't fully quantized… it has more of a human feel, so it might slow down or speed up. So you have to be the type of rapper, like [MF Doom] or Freddie, who can catch that, or else you'll be sounding crazy."

In February 2014, the track list and the cover art of the album were released. The cover art features Gibbs wearing a black Adidas tracksuit and hanging out in a neighborhood park, with a zebra print border surrounding the image. In a March 2014, interview with Rolling Stone, Madlib spoke about how they started working on the album, saying: "I met him through Ben Lambo. He used to work at Stones Throw. I heard some of an earlier album with Jeezy on it [Gibbs' Cold Day In Hell]. And Lambo wanted to see if he could do something different over my style of beats. That's where it all started… I had gotten over eight CDs worth of music to him, and just let him pick out whatever he could vibe to. I didn't do anything special, I just let him pick stuff that he could write to. I thought he'd pick different types of beats, [but it was] all raw shit. I didn't have to tell him, but that's what he wanted to record." He also spoke about how they recorded the album separately, saying: "No, he recorded the vocals on his own. Like, I handed him all the CDs, and he picked out all the beats he wanted, he recorded them at his studio, then he handed those off to me, then we finished it. I would add little things, like these choruses. That's what usually happens: I let 'em record what they want, then I add stuff as needed after that, like extra horns or whatever… I'm usually working on other thangs, you know what I mean? I don't have time to sit there and coach somebody that just already knows what to do, and that's the kind of people I usually work with… I don't want to sit there like a babysitter." Gibbs also spoke about how the album was recorded over three years, saying: "We two different guys, man. I was still in the streets when I first started that Madlib album. I was, then I wasn't. You can tell the progression on the record, though. You can tell the different places that I'm in, 'cause I did it over the course of three years, coming up with the ideas and concepts."

Preceded by their 2014 album, Knicks (Remix) was released on October 20, 2014 through Madlib Invazion in both digital and 12-inch vinyl formats. The 6-track EP includes two vocal tracks, "Knicks (Remix)" featuring Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$ and Ransom, and "Home" featuring singer BJ the Chicago Kid, as well as instrumentals and two bonus beats by Madlib.

During Madlib's talk with Red Bull Music Academy on May 7, 2016, he announced that he and Freddie Gibbs will be releasing a second collaborative studio album called Bandana. Madlib also mentioned that many of the rejected beats he auditioned for Kanye West's The Life of Pablo would appear on the new project. Freddie Gibbs confirmed this on Twitter while his manager tweeted a teaser picture of Madlib beats. No release date is set. The Gary, Indiana rapper is currently working on a collaboration project with New Orleans rapper Curren$y.

Studio albums

EPs