Wendy GilmartinWhat: Freddie Gibbs
Where: The Mohawk Patio, Austin TX
When: March 16, 2011
Freddie Gibbs' hotly anticipated gig easily brought out the most wildly weird and diverse crowd so far at SXSW with hip hop gangstas, drunk girls, underage kids, Asian hipsters, goth chicks, soft-bearded indie dudes, tatted Austin-ites and even a few creepy middle aged guys with un-ironic mustaches – what's up with that Freddie?
Freddie; Credit: photo by Wendy Gilmartin
To the over-and-over-again stanza of “Fuck Po-leeeece,” Freddie swaggered onto the low-lit stage cool and easy in a grey sweatsuit like he'd just rolled up from the gym and was headed home and, you know, had to do this SXSW thing first.
It took Freddie a while to get situated and the man's a perfectionist, so the few technical hiccups that occurred – thanks to the rickety, bouncing stage which was making the turntables skip too – got him miffed early on and resulted in a few re-starters. But that's the chance you take ditching those soulless laptops and going old school with the vinyl records, yo.
Already with a burr in his hide, Freddie taunted the crowd too for their measly, pussy-ass weed-smoking: “Y'all don't smoke weed down here in Texas?” That got a few blunts burning, including Freddie's, but for a hip hop show it was definitely missing that thick, low hanging fog of ganja smoke. Freddie even showed the crowd how to do it, grabbing deep down into his sweat pants and revealing a baggie with about $300 worth of bright green nuggets in it, which he dangled over the crowd. See what you're missin?
Freddie lighting it up; Credit: photo by Wendy Gilmartin
Gibbs' easily slew all his jams after that, especially his big ones: “National Anthem (Fuck The World)” and “The Ghetto.” Thankfully, Freddie ditched his simple white-T early on to show-off his delectable torso and full back tat of Huey Newton reclining on a wicker throne (you may have seen him getting it inked on you tube by renowned tattoo artist Jun Cha). Blasting through the rest of his set, Freddie almost never broke a sweat. But he's cool like that, even if the crowd or his back-up crew left him limp.
Freddie Gibbs; Credit: photo by Wendy Gilmartin
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