Freddie Gibbs has revealed Diddy’s reaction to him paying homage to The Notorious B.I.G. on his new album $oul $old $eparately.
On the Pusha T-assisted “Gold Rings,” Gangsta Gibbs channels Biggie’s “Me & My Bitch” by dedicating a dark, storytelling-driven song to his own “down ass bitch.”
One listener certainly appreciated the tribute and tweeted: “Freddie Gibbs doing an interpretation of ‘Me & My Bitch’ by B.I.G on ‘Gold Rings’ is actually insane. @FreddieGibbs,” which caught the ESGN rapper’s attention.
In his reply, Gibbs saluted the late Brooklyn legend while candidly admitting his former label boss wasn’t a fan of the song when he played it for him.
“RIP B.I.G. I played that song for Puff but he ain’t like it tho,” the Gary, Indiana native tweeted.
RIP B.I.G. I played that song for Puff but he ain’t like it tho ? https://t.co/JTpMNw7M3H
— Big ? (@FreddieGibbs) October 6, 2022
Diddy produced “Me & My Bitch” alongside the Bluez Brothers and Chucky Thompson. The song appeared on The Notorious B.I.G.’s critically acclaimed debut album Ready to Die, which landed in September 1994.
Freddie Gibbs previously borrowed from Biggie on his 2016 collaboration with The Avalanches, “Bad Day,” on which he spit a verse reminiscent of “Juicy.”
“Life without fear / Puttin’ five karats in my baby girl’s ear / Used to put the cars in my baby mama’s name / 4 A.M. for breakfast we was cookin’ cocaine,” he rapped on the song.
“Now it’s lunches, brunches, interviews by the fuckin’ pool / No security, I’m solo with my fuckin’ tool / N-ggas tweetin’ ’bout a murder, bust a fuckin’ move / If we comin’ through, we leave their bodies on the fuckin’ news.”
“High,” from Gibbs’ 2014 Pinata collaboration with Madlib, also featured a sample of Biggie’s spoken word intro from “Sky’s the Limit.”
As for $oul $old $eparately, “Gold Rings” is just one of several heavyweight collaborations on the album. The guest list is stacked with current rap stars such as Offset and Moneybagg Yo and as well as veterans like Raekwon, Scarface, Rick Ross and DJ Paul.
$oul $old $eparately was hailed as a “big budget victory lap” in a 4.1 out of 5 review from HipHopDX and is projected to earn 20,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, good enough for a No. 14 debut on the Billboard 200 — a career-high for Freddie Gibbs.