I saw the announcement on the Fake Shore Drive Twitter last night, and I almost threw my phone up in the air in celebration: “Freddie Gibbs. You Only Die 1nce. New album. Halloween night.” All true! It’s been two year since the consistently great rap veteran Freddie Gibbs released $oul $old $eparately, his most recent LP. His next one drops in a few hours.
You Only Die 1nce doesn’t just follow $oul $old $eparately; it also arrives after Gibbs dropped a molten guest-verse on Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures album — questionable context but unquestionable content — and got into a weird but entertaining social-media feud with JPEGMAFIA. It appears that there are no guest rappers on You Only Die 1nce, but the LP has tracks from of-the-moment producers like BNYX and 454, as well as his longtime manager Ben “Lambo” Lambert.
Ahead of the album’s release, Gibbs has shared the video for lead single “On The Set.” It’s a downbeat track, and it finds Gibbs in a reflective mood. Among other subjects, he addresses the Diddy shitstorm, the deaths of many of his peers, and the times that he contemplated quitting rap. Gibbs co-directed the video with Lambert and Harley Astorga. It appears to open on Gibbs’ dead body, but no, he’s on a movie set, and I would really like to own the Wire T-shirt that he’s got on. Below, check out the video and the new LP’s tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Status”
02 “Cosmo Freestyle”
03 “Wolverine”
04 “Brick Fees”
05 “Rabbit Island”
06 “It’s Your Anniversary”
07 “Nobody (Interlude)”
08 “30 Girlfriends (Yeah Yeah)”
09 “Steel Doors”
10 “Walk It Off”
11 “Ruthless”
12 “Origami”
13 “On The Set”
You Only Live 1nce is out tonight at midnight on ESGN Records/AWAL.