As it stands, Freddie Gibbs' collaborative project with Madlib only boasts the two published singles ("Flat Tummy Tea" and the eponymously titled "Bandana") on the presumptive tracklist. Apparently, that's only the information North Americans are being fed during the final countdown to its release.
In a recently-published interview with Juice magazine in Germany, Gibbs shared the names of a few notable contributors that are set to feature on the project, come deadline day. The conversation began with the German interviewer looking down at a fact sheet that was likely presented to him by Freddie's reps in preparation for the conversation. Before we get into the proceedings, I'd like to thank the Reddit faithful for undergoing the German-to-English translation efforts. Major thanks.
The following is a loose transcript of the interviewer's question (appearing in German in the flesh). The Juice journalist starts off by mentioning some of the names off his cue card index, to the effect of...
"Q: The choices of features on the new record are also indicative of that: Pusha T, Yasiin Bey, Black Thought, Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak. How did those collabs come about?" as per the Reddit translation.
Freddie Gibbs is then believed to have answered the following in accordance with the front-loaded question. "Those are all legends, guys who I have a lot of respect for and guys who respect me in return," Gibbs says in reverence of his guest list.
"At first I didn’t want to have any features on the record, but that it did end up happening is a blessing. The track with Pusha and Killer Mike turned into my favorite song - and Pusha didn’t need need to do me that favor." he continues.
"I think there’s a lot of other MCs that are too scared to be on a song with me," before capping things off by shouting out Jay Rock, the lone artist from his 2010 XXL Freshman class that he wound up collaborating with. Let's be real here, these big name reveals undoubtedly heighten expectation for the Madlib x Gibbs sequel, to a seemingly insurmountable level. Hit us with your thoughts.