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Freddie Gibbs is one of the most underrated MCs of this generation. With classic albums under his belt like Piñata and Alfredo, he has continued to improve his sound with each new project.
My favorite Gangsta Gibbs albums are his collaborations with legendary producer Madlib – Piñata and Bandana – because I think they have a timeless quality often lost in music today.
Here is a closer look at the life and career of Freddie Gibbs.
Freddie Gibbs Quick Facts
- Full Name: Frederick Jamel Tipton
- Birth Date: June 14th, 1982
- Birthplace: Gary, Indiana
- Nickname: Freddie Kane, Gangsta Gibbs, Big Boss Rabbit
- Nationality: American Zodiac Sign Gemini
- Siblings: One brother
- Children: Irie Jane Gibbs, Freddie Gibbs Jr.
- Partner/ Spouse: TheFitMami
- Most Successful Songs / Albums: Piñata, Alfredo
- Earnings: N/A
- Net Worth: $3 million
- Social Media: @FreddieGibbs
- Awards: 1 Grammy Nomination
- Last Updated: 6/9/2022
Freddie Gibbs Birthplace
Freddie Gibbs was born in Gary, Indiana, on June 14th, 1982. He grew up on 17th and Virginia Street on the city’s east side and has talked about his rough upbringing in Gary in numerous songs.
Freddie Gibbs Parents
Not much about Freddie’s parents are known. His mother worked at the post office, and his father moved between jobs, once serving as a police officer who was kicked off of the force. Freddie has indicated that his father and Michael Jackson were the same age.
The Jacksons were also from Gary, and his father was a singer who came up around the same time as Mike. However, his singing career didn’t pan out quite the same, so he worked various jobs to support the family.
Freddie Gibbs Early Life
Growing up in a city plagued by crime and poverty, Freddie was exposed to a lot at a young age. Music wasn’t his original passion, even though he grew up listening to Biggie, 2pac, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. He’d seen his father struggle to gain exposure in the music industry and felt his path out of poverty was sports. He played as a wide receiver on his high school football team but also sold drugs on the side to support himself.
He did his best to stay on the straight and narrow path and was accepted to Ball State University on an athletic scholarship to play football. But his street activities followed him to college, which ended up getting him expelled. He had to return home to Gary and was forced back into a life of crime.
He caught a felony gun charge when he was 19 and quickly afterward was arrested for theft. While he was fighting these cases, he decided to enlist in the military and join an army boot camp at Fort Jackson to avoid jail time. But that tactic was short-lived, and he was dishonorably discharged after only eight months for getting caught smoking marijuana.
He returned to Gary and took a job working at the local mall. While on the job, he met a producer named Finger Roll, who owned a studio in Gary. He began spending more time at Finger Roll’s studio, where he connected with other local rappers from the city. He eventually joined the producer’s No Tamin Entertainment crew and began honing his craft as a rapper.
Freddie Gibbs Professional Career
Freddie released his debut mixtape, Full Metal Jacket, in 2004 and dropped a sequel the following year. An intern for Interscope Records named Ben Lambert (aka Lambo) came across one of these early tapes and brought it to the attention of his boss Joe Weinberger, who ended up offering him a deal.
After a few months of negotiations, Gibbs moved to LA to pursue his career as a rapper and began working on his debut project. There he worked with acclaimed producers like Just Blaze and Polow da Don and began to refine his sound.
But unfortunately, things didn’t work out with Interscope, and he was dropped in 2006 after Joe Weinberger left the label. He tried to get another deal but failed to get much attention from major labels who were hesitant to sign newer artists as streaming began to decimate their profits.
After things didn’t pan out in LA, he moved to Atlanta with his pregnant girlfriend and went back to hustling to make ends meet. After his grandmother passed and his girlfriend had a miscarriage, Freddie went into a deep depression and turned to drugs to cope. He eventually hit rock bottom and decided to give rap one more try, returning to LA to link back up with some of his buddies from Interscope.
He then began self-releasing projects onto the internet, including The Labels Tryna Kill Me, the Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs, and Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik. These early projects attracted the attention of blogs like 2dopeboys and Pitchfork, and Freddie began to build a buzz online.
In 2010, he released his debut EP, Str8 Killa. The project was well-received critically and earned Freddie a spot on the 2010 XXL Freshman Class alongside future superstars like J Cole, Nipsey Hussle, and Wiz Khalifa.
The following year, Freddie signed a deal with Young Jeezy’s CTE World label and dropped the mixtape Cold Day in Hell, which featured guest appearances from Jeezy, 2chainz, and Juicy J, among others. He followed up soon after with the project Cold Day in Hell, featuring appearances from Pharrell Williams, Jadakiss, Curren$y, and more.
In December 2012, Freddie revealed that he had left CTE World. He claimed that there was no bad blood between him and Jeezy, although they would later trade disses. He released his debut album ESGN (Evil Seeds Grow Naturally) on his own label in June 2010 to generally positive reviews from critics.
Around that time, he also began previewing songs from a project with legendary producer Madlib. Their full-length collaborative album Piñata was released on March 18th, 2014, to widespread acclaim from critics, peaking at number 39 on Billboard. Piñata is my favorite Freddie Gibbs album because his cold-blooded rhymes are perfectly complimented by Madlib’s colorful and multi-layer production.
Freddie continued his hot streak by following up with the project Shadow of a Doubt in November 2015, which came out on his ESGN label. The album featured a much darker sound and saw Freddie experimenting with more melodies and sonic ideas.
After that, Freddie took a brief hiatus from music while fighting a sexual assault case that had allegedly occurred in Austria in 2015. He returned to music after being acquitted of all charges in September 2016.
He returned with his third official solo album, You Only Live 2wice, in March 2017. The album featured the single Crushed Glass and was well-received by both fans and critics.
He followed up with the album Freddie in 2018, which featured a tongue-in-cheek ode to a Teddy Pendergrass album as the cover art. The project featured a more trap-inspired sound with production from Kenny Beats and Freddie himself.
The same year, he also released a collaborative album with Curren$y and the Alchemist called Fetti. This project received widespread acclaim from critics, who complimented the two rappers’ chemistry and the sublime production from The Alchemist.
Freddie continued his streak of critically acclaimed albums in 2019 by dropping a sequel to Piñata called Bandana, which was exclusively produced by Madlib. The album featured guest appearances from Pusha T, Killer Mike, Black Through, and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), among others. Bandana was also met with widespread critical acclaim and listed as one of the best releases of that year by many publications.
He would continue the trend of working with a single producer by reuniting with the Alchemist for the album Alfredo in 2020. The project had guest appearances from Benny the Butcher, Tyler the Creator, and Conway the Machine. Alfredo was another critic and fan favorite, earning Freddie his first Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. It was also a commercial success, debuting at number 15 on Billboard, making it both Freddie’s and the Alchemist’s highest-charting project to date.
In June 2020, Freddie signed a deal with Warner Brother Records and announced that he was working on his fifth solo album, Soul Sold Separately. He would also drop back-to-back singles, including 4Thangs featuring Big Sean, Gang Signs featuring Schoolboy Q, Big Boss Rabbit, and Ice Cream featuring Rick Ross.
Freddie Gibbs Video
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Thuggin’ (Official) – Piñata
Freddie Gibbs – Fake Names | A COLORS SHOW
Freddie Gibbs And Madlib: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – 1985 (Official Video)
Freddie Gibbs live in Austin, TX 2021
Freddie Gibbs Family
Not much about Freddie’s family is publicly available. He has a younger brother who graduated from Notre Dame and became a doctor. During his ongoing feud with DJ Akademiks, the hip hop commentator claimed that Freddie has another brother who is a District Attorney, although Gibbs denied this on Twitter.
He also has two children, a girl, and a boy. He had a daughter named Irie Jane Gibbs with his ex-fiance Erica Dickerson in 2015. He also had a son named Freddie Gibbs Jr with a woman named Raven Tatum.
Tatum claimed that the son’s name was originally Ethan. Freddie begged her to change it while also making accusations that he sent someone to kill her. Freddie eventually filed a restraining order against Raven, after she allegedly keyed his car.
Freddie Gibbs Dating & Relationship History
Freddie has had several public relationships. He previously dated actress Erica Dickerson, the daughter of NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson. Freddie proposed to her in March 2015 after finding out she was pregnant with his daughter. But the two split up shortly after the baby was born.
He is currently dating model and actress TheFitMami. The two are together frequently, and she even revealed that she has his name tatted on her, but neither has officially confirmed whether or not they’re in a relationship.
Freddie Gibbs Controversies and Scandals
In November 2014, Freddie was shot after performing at a record store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He was sitting in his car when the gunman approached him but escaped unharmed (although members of his entourage were hit and treated for non-life-threatening wounds).
In June 2016, police arrested Freddie at a concert in Toulouse, France, on a warrant for rape, stemming from an accusation made in 2015. They extradited him to Austria, where the crime allegedly occurred and charged him with sexually abusing two women.
Prosecutors accused Freddie of spiking a woman’s drink and taking advantage of her while she was in an altered state. He adamantly denied the accusations, and a court in Vienna eventually determined that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove he committed the crime. The jury acquitted him of all charges.
Then, in May 2022, a group of men attacked Freddie at Dinosaur Barbecue in Buffalo, New York, before a performance on his Space Rabbit Tour. The massive brawl was caught on camera, but Freddie still took the stage and performed with an apparent lump on his head.
According to rumors, the mob attacked him on behalf of fellow rapper Benny the Butcher, who is from Buffalo. Despite once being friends and having collaborated in the past, the two rappers supposedly disagreed and traded words on social media, which led to Freddie getting jumped while on tour.
Freddie Gibbs Net Worth and Career Earnings
Freddie Gibbs has a net worth of approximately $3 million. Most of his earnings come from revenue streams related to his music, including album sales, streaming royalties, tours, and merchandise. In interviews, he’s also mentioned his interest in getting into the legal cannabis industry, but those ventures have yet to materialize.
Freddie Gibbs’s Famous Quotes
“Everything don’t work out for the best. You have to use a lot of those things as lessons to build yourself up.” – Freddie Gibbs
Freddie Gibbs Discography & Full Credits
- 2010 – Str8 Killa
- 2011 – Lord Giveth, Lord Taketh Away (with Statik Selectah)
- 2013 – ESGN
- 2014 – Piñata (with Madlib)
- 2015 – Shadow of a Doubt
- 2017– You Only Live 2wice
- 2018 – Freddie
- 2018 – Fetti (with Curren$y and the Alchemist)
- 2019 – Bandana (with Madlib)
- 2020 – Alfredo (with The Alchemist)
Freddie Gibbs FAQ
Answer: Freddie Gibbs’s favorite rappers include Scarface, DMX, 2pac, Nas, UGK, the Geto Boys, Three 6 Mafia, Raekwon, Outkast, and Black Thought, among many more. He has also stated that he is inspired by many different genres of music. For instance, he paid homage to R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass on his 2018 album Freddie. He also says that he used to listen to Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana to get him excited before football games in high school.
Answer: Despite linking with Interscope early in his career and later teaming up with Young Jeezy, Freddie is mainly known for his independent releases. He founded his label ESGN Records and inked a distribution deal with Empire Distribution. But after years of the independent grind, Gibbs signed a deal with Warner Brothers in 2020 and plans to release his next album on the label.
Answer: Freddie Gibbs and hip-hop media personality DJ Akademiks have been in a heated online battle since Freddie called his former mentor, Young Jeezy, irrelevant on the Bootleg Kev podcast. Akademiks defended Jeezy on his Complex show, Everyday Struggle, claiming that if Jeezy was irrelevant, then so was Freddie. Freddie clapped back at Akademiks on social media after his collaboration with the Alchemist sold 30,000 copies the first week, which led to a heated back and forth. Since then, the two have traded threats and insults over social media in a feud that continues to this day.