MIC/LINE (formerly named Sound Check) is HYPEBEAST Radio‘s music-centric show that looks to deliver in-depth conversations with your favorite artists, digging into their origin stories and asking the questions you want answered. For our newest episode, we sit down with rapper Freddie Gibbs and his manager Ben “Lambo” Lambert.

After discovering the Gary, Ind. native rapping over an Allen Iverson beat back in 2005, Lambo, who was a college student at that time, began working with Gibbs and he was soon signed to Interscope Records. Shorty after, he was dropped, but Lambo and the late Josh The Goon convinced him to move to LA to continue rapping. Fourteen years later, the duo have successfully navigated the industry, landing on the 2010 XXL Freshman Class cover, creating genre-bending rap, and dropping a stellar number of mixtapes and albums such as Pinata and most recently Freddie and Fetti in 2018.

“My dad always told me, ‘Always be so good that you can’t be denied,’ and I just think that the music at the time was so mind-blowing you couldn’t deny it.”

As they prep for his latest release, Bandana, the duo discuss the 14-year stretch of working independently to their latest move and signing with Keep Cool/RCA Records. They continue the discussion, touching on collaborating with Madlib and the transcendence of his music post-victory of his falsely accused sexual assault case back in 2016.  With more to say and more to fight for, the rapper shares insight on persevering with music even at times he wanted to quit.

The veteran rapper has proven himself to not only be a versatile artist but also an astute mind regarding his marketing strategies — the oxymoronic artwork of Freddie being one. Aside from music, Freddie may most noticeably be known for his humor. Gibbs shares that when he’s not rapping, he may be “finding things in the depths of hell” and posting them on his Instagram stories. Whether he’s rapping or cracking jokes, the dynamic lyricist advises that he’s always aiming to produce content that “will last forever.”

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