You Only Die 1nce is the newest release and 10th studio record and 6th solo record from the Indiana born rapper Freddie Gibbs. The record, released with very minimal buildup or rollout, marks Freddie’s first release in roughly 2 years. Fans speculate that this project serves as a sequel to his earlier project, You Only Live 2wice.
The record opens with “Status,” a track with many of the familiar flows that Freddie has presented on previous works. Despite not having a chorus or any super catchy verses I find this track incredibly strong lyrically. The incredibly tight rhyme scheme coheres well with the very strong delivery. The production felt like a major downside to this track, as the vocal distortion didn’t really contribute much to the track and generally felt distracting. The instrumental also felt like it was going a completely different direction than the vocals. Despite these gripes, the track opens the record decently.
We see a drastic shift production-wise in “Cosmo Freestyle,” an incredibly well-rounded track. The near-perfect instrumental choices, with soft keys and bassy electronic drums, makes it feel almost lo-fi. The flows are incredibly on point in this track with the latter portions of the track feeling very smooth. I enjoyed the vulnerability and introspection presented here. Freddie even calls his gangster persona into question, attributing his violent nature and misogyny to internal struggles.
“Wolverine” follows, carrying a similar energy. Yet another well-produced track, the sample and production feel reminiscent of tracks from his previous record Alfredo (a project which was entirely produced by the Alchemist). Although there’s some interesting lyrics on this track, its subject matter feels incredibly broad, discussing topics from the illicit, such as making drugs, to the social, such as the racism embedded in European society. While there are no doubt some well-crafted bars, I find this track to be a bit incoherent. (Also as a bit of an aside I find it interesting how he makes a reference to former NBA player Harold Miner on this record, with Westside Gunn making an almost identical reference on his most recent record releasing a day later. This is entirely coincidental, but I still find it amusing).
Returning to his roots production and rapping-wise, “Brick Fees” has the undeniable characteristics of a Freddie Gibbs track. It features a very prominent gangster-rap beat with heavy bass and peppy electronic drums paired with familiar lyrical themes like gang violence albeit with the addition of some shade being thrown at fellow rapper JPEGMAFIA following their feud earlier this year.
“Rabbit Island” follows and delivers more stellar production akin to previous tracks like “Wolverine.” Featuring a sample of “Lost Inside You,” the track assumes a slower tempo and features similar drumbeats and vocalizations from Freddie. Although the production was quite good on this track (personally felt like “Babies & Fools” from Alfredo), lyrically I felt a bit unimpressed by this track. There weren’t a ton of lyrics or moments of stunning vocal delivery that really stunned me on this track, and the J. Cole diss in the last few verses just felt really forced and was a bit of a footnote in the broader track.
The next track, “It’s Your Anniversary,” features one of my favorite samples on the record. The track samples R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!’s aptly named track “Anniversary,” and draws some delightful melodic contrasts. I find that the lower registers of Freddie’s vocal ranges and the boom-bap drums associated with his music are very well balanced out by chilled R&B samples such as this (something I’ve wanted to see more of in his discography). I find that the subtle bass that lingers throughout the instrumental really complements the menacing vocals as well, bolstering the villainous persona that Freddie presents himself with.
Diverging lyrically, “30 Girlfriends (Yeah Yeah),” presents Freddie gripping with his stardom and its implications. It’s clear from the toned-down lo-fi production that the track comes from a more somber frame of reference. This is further reinforced through Freddie questioning his lifestyle and trust issues because of his rapping career. I also particularly enjoyed his use of choruses (rather than the track just being one long verse), however, the lyrical content of the choruses felt one dimensional and uninteresting personally.
“Steel Doors” continues the record with more interesting lyrical choices. There’s a clear symbolism presented in the track with the steel doors representing some sort of barrier holding Freddie in his current situation. I thoroughly enjoyed the lyric, “what it really cost to get some love out of these—Steel doors.” Particularly, I love the dichotomy between Freddie’s constant mention of material wealth juxtaposed with questioning the cost of finding love from his peers and breaking down the steel doors. This track is an incredible divergence from other tracks on the record whose lyrics feel one dimensional or predictable at best.
Freddie flexes his singing voice in the following track, “Walk It Off.” The track takes some R&B influences and sounds with soft keys and bass combined with softer electronic drums. Additionally, there’s also a decent attempt at some catchy melodic hooks during the choruses (further leaning into the R&B influences). While I applaud the track’s approach and contrast with his typical style, the track was very average lyrically. It’s not necessarily a track that I’m eager to come back to but not an instant skip either.
Like “It’s Your Anniversary,” “Ruthless” is yet another great use of an R&B sample on this record. Freddie demonstrates his disgust for his pleasure and sex-driven lifestyle on this track over a sample of “Cupid” by 112. I really enjoyed the soft, somber guitar in the sample — I think it really adds to the introspection presented here. If I were to offer a critique, I found the first few lines of the choruses (Neck game stupid, wrist game stupid (Yeah), whip game stupid) to be weak lyrically and didn’t contribute much for me.
One of my favorite tracks is next on the record – namely, “Origami.” From a production standpoint, I love the interaction between the synths and the drums. The instrumental feels like it has a flow of its own that is perfectly suited to Freddie’s rapping. Lyrically, the flows on this track are incredibly satisfying with amusing double-entendres/comparisons and a loose rhyme scheme. The track feels like an incredibly well-organized and executed freestyle and marks an incredible high point on the record.
Ending the record on a somber note, “On the Set” features Freddie lamenting the deaths of fellow hip-hop artists while questioning his current lifestyle choices that may lead to his demise. There is a unique level of vulnerability in this track with Freddie going so far as to admit that he was prepared to retire from hip-hop entirely after the murder of fellow contributor/musician Nipsey Hussle. I also enjoyed the minimalistic production with soft guitar tones and how it really let the lyrics carry the emotion in the track.
Overall, this record was quite solid, not perfect, but incredibly solid nevertheless. As someone who has been following Freddie Gibbs’ work for some time now, I thoroughly enjoyed this project. There were several moments on this record where Freddie demonstrated a level of introspection and vulnerability that hasn’t been expanded upon much in previous works. Additionally, Freddie gave the listener a glimpse into some stylistic expansions such as the R&B-esque track “Walk It Off.” My main gripe with this record is that quite a few tracks just felt incredibly similar to many other tracks in his catalogue. The track “Rabbit Island” felt incredibly similar to what Freddie presented in his previous projects which was somewhat disappointing for me personally. I also would’ve liked to see more sampling akin to what is presented in “Wolverine,” “It’s Your Anniversary,” or “Ruthless” as these tracks felt particularly satisfying but were few-and-far between. I think that Freddie has an incredible amount of flexibility as an artist and I would love to see him explore different sounds and themes on his future projects. But nevertheless, this record marks an excellent return for him.
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