He’s just as humble about his setbacks as he is ready to let you know how much better he is than the competition. The rap game is obsessed with categorization and yet Gibbs defies any rigid definitions. There’s a little bit of everything, and it’s all true to the Gibbs experience. He trades trap barbs with Pusha T on “Gold Rings,” but also shows off his cadences and melody with Offset on “Pain & Strife.” The album gets gloomy as he chronicles his past, but it’s also buoyed by comedic skits from celebrity friends Joe Rogan and Jeff Ross. That balance is at play throughout the record. Soul Sold Separately is for his new fans, as well as those who’ve supported Gibbs from the Baby Face Killa days. Gibbs has bet on himself over the past several years, and he’s put together a catalog that rivals anyone’s post-2010 output. “I don’t want to do this shit because I have to no more. “I probably been having fun rapping the past five years, but before that, I was rapping for a necessity, because I had to,” he said. For Gibbs, the rap equivalent of that title fight isn’t sales numbers or awards but the feeling that he’s having fun.

With every accomplishment, he’s redefining what the rewards for perseverance can be for MCs in an increasingly unforgiving hip-hop climate. Gibbs’ Warner Records debut Soul Sold Separately is out today.

Thanks to the strength of culturally lauded work - 2014’s Pinata and 2019’s Bandana, as well as the Grammy-nominated Alfredo with Alchemist - he’s now once again a major label artist. That nigga had to fight 43 fights before he got the title fight.” I compare my career to the boxer, one of my favorite boxers of all time, Marvin Hagler.

Not being able to get a deal, being blackballed. “I had to put so much of my own time, effort, and money into it. “I’ve had the most unique career path of any rapper on my level because I slugged it out so many years independently,” Gibbs tells Rolling Stone over a zoom call. He’s gone from a fledgling label signee to an indie darling and major label success in the span of a decade. Few artists can match the kind of career the 40-year-old rapper has charted for himself. Every step Freddie Gibbs takes is historic.

Freddie gibbs shadow of a doubt vinyl