Freddie Gibbs Says 50 Cent and Scarface Inspired Him to Rap

Freddie Gibbs has named 50 Cent and Scarface as the rappers who inspired him to hop in the booth.

Gibbs had a conversation about his rap roots on The Ryen Russillo Podcast that came out on Thursday (Aug. 21).

“The first rapper that made me be like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna rap,’ is 50 Cent,” he said (around the 40-minute mark) before reflecting on what a young Gangsta Gibbs was thinking when he heard him: “I love what he’s doing. I’m gonna do that too.”

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“The first person to make me fall in love with rap, period as a child, was Scarface,” he added. “When I heard ‘Mr. Scarface’ and [the Geto Boys’ 1991 album] ‘We Can’t Be Stopped,’ it clicked because I could relate to everything he was saying.”

Gibbs then switched gears to explain what made him such a huge fan of Fif.

“I admired his whole hustle about the game, like the G-Unit mixtape. Everything he was doing. The business side of it was impressive to me,” admitted Gibbs.

“It was an underdog story to me. That’s what made it interesting,” Gibbs continued. “Everyone was going against him. They shot him and all of that. He even made a song about it.”

In other Gibbs news, the rapper has revealed what his next project will be: a collab album with Kaytranada.

In July, Gibbs spoke with Apple Music about what he plans to do after Alfredo 2, his latest project with The Alchemist.

“I was with Kaytranada a couple of months ago and we made a new song, so I was like ‘Alright, let’s make a whole album,’” said Gibbs. “I think that’s going to be the next album.”

Gibbs explained that they’re already working on the album, because he started it while finishing up the first Alfredo, which dropped in 2020. The rapper then revealed how Ty Dolla Sign inspired him and how that connected to the upcoming LP.

“Ty Dolla Sign is one of the best musicians that I’ve been in the studio with all around, from the singing, producing, playing live instruments, to rapping,” Gibbs explained. “He’s like a Swiss Army knife in the studio, so the month and a half or so that I got to spend with him in Italy, when we were working on Vultures, was a really inspirational time for me. The very first song I’ve got with Kaytranada is with Ty.”