{"id":1360,"date":"2024-11-27T13:16:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T18:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2024-11-27T13:16:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T18:16:41","slug":"rhythms-and-reviews-you-only-die-1nce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/11\/27\/rhythms-and-reviews-you-only-die-1nce\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhythms And Reviews: You Only Die 1nce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You Only Die 1nce <\/em>is the newest release and 10th<\/sup> studio record and 6th<\/sup> solo record from the Indiana born rapper Freddie Gibbs. The record, released with very minimal buildup or rollout, marks Freddie\u2019s first release in roughly 2 years. Fans speculate that this project serves as a sequel to his earlier project, You Only Live 2wice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The record opens with \u201cStatus,\u201d 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see a drastic shift production-wise in \u201cCosmo Freestyle,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWolverine\u201d follows, carrying a similar energy. Yet another well-produced track, the sample and production feel reminiscent of tracks from his previous record Alfredo<\/em> (a project which was entirely produced by the Alchemist). Although there\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to his roots production and rapping-wise, \u201cBrick Fees\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cRabbit Island\u201d follows and delivers more stellar production akin to previous tracks like \u201cWolverine.\u201d Featuring a sample of \u201cLost Inside You,\u201d 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 \u201cBabies & Fools\u201d from Alfredo<\/em>), lyrically I felt a bit unimpressed by this track. There weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next track, \u201cIt\u2019s Your Anniversary,\u201d features one of my favorite samples on the record. The track samples R&B group Tony! Toni! Ton\u00e9!\u2019s aptly named track \u201cAnniversary,\u201d and draws some delightful melodic contrasts. I find that the lower registers of Freddie\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diverging lyrically, \u201c30 Girlfriends (Yeah Yeah),\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSteel Doors\u201d continues the record with more interesting lyrical choices. There\u2019s 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, \u201cwhat it really cost to get some love out of these\u2014Steel doors.\u201d Particularly, I love the dichotomy between Freddie\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freddie flexes his singing voice in the following track, \u201cWalk It Off.\u201d The track takes some R&B influences and sounds with soft keys and bass combined with softer electronic drums. Additionally, there\u2019s also a decent attempt at some catchy melodic hooks during the choruses (further leaning into the R&B influences). While I applaud the track\u2019s approach and contrast with his typical style, the track was very average lyrically. It\u2019s not necessarily a track that I\u2019m eager to come back to but not an instant skip either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like \u201cIt\u2019s Your Anniversary,\u201d \u201cRuthless\u201d 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 \u201cCupid\u201d by 112. I really enjoyed the soft, somber guitar in the sample \u2014 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\u2019t contribute much for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite tracks is next on the record \u2013 namely, \u201cOrigami.\u201d 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ending the record on a somber note, \u201cOn the Set\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, this record was quite solid, not perfect, but incredibly solid nevertheless. As someone who has been following Freddie Gibbs\u2019 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\u2019t 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 \u201cWalk It Off.\u201d 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 \u201cRabbit Island\u201d felt incredibly similar to what Freddie presented in his previous projects which was somewhat disappointing for me personally. I also would\u2019ve liked to see more sampling akin to what is presented in \u201cWolverine,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Your Anniversary,\u201d or \u201cRuthless\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s first release in roughly 2 years. Fans speculate that this project serves as a sequel to his earlier project, You Only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[26,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1362,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions\/1362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}