Holy hell, it’s like Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and a birthday all rolled into one. It’s the return of Madlib and Freddie Gibbs aka MadGibbs for their Piñata follow up Bandana. This feels like the heyday of Lil Wayne putting out the Carter albums; Piñata felt like the modern Carter 1 then in quick succession Gibbs drops Shadow of a Doubt, You Only Live 2wice and Freddie, like they were Drought mixtapes making us salivate for the ‘we need it this instant’ release of the C2 like, Bandana. And on the topic of Wayne, Gibbs’ “real G’s move in silence like Giannis” is an incredible update (Sorry, Garfield). It feels like a forever wait but then again the right recipe takes time.

Madlib is in the laboratory like Dexter mixing up all kinds of craziness to test out and with that kind of chimerical work you can’t hand it off to just anyone. A lesser MC (hell basically anyone other than MF Doom) can end up laid out from trying to handle a Madlib beat. Luckily Freddie “Full G Auto” is no ordinary man; Gary, Indiana hardened, Pendergrass smooth and current coke rap king (the dude has a coke rap tête-à-tête with Pusha T [Palmolive] for fucks sake) Freddie Gibbs is up for the challenge. Piñata was an incredible blaxploitation mixed game 6 (RAPS, BABY!) winner then Bandana is the drop the exploitation keep the black power victory lap. The confidence and bravado of both parties here is staggering. Incredible in their own right, much like Run the Jewels, when the two come together it’s something all together more powerful. Fun, exciting, hard hitting, lyrical and something that’s built to stand the test of time this Bandana is bound to be as important at Pac’s crown.

“Just One Dummies Opinion”

Bandana

critiqued by Dan Ferrari