As we all know, Pinata is a great album with amazing verses and instrumentals. With its one month anniversary recently i thought i'd post what I think of this album and the story I perceive.
Now Gibbs has stated before that Pinata was structured with the idea of a black exploitation movie (Shaft, Dolemite, Superfly) shit like that. And right off the bat we hear it in the first track.
Tracklist:
1. Supplier - Now a lot of these titles are really ambiguous and could mean many different things. I think this was intentional as Gibb's has a lot of layers to him and his songs than what appears on the outside. This sample "Only the strong survive" gets repeated a lot because it's basically the motto Gibbs is living and what a lot of people live that come from the hood.
- This song marks the entrance of a young Gangster Gibbs in the drug trade in his hometown of Gary.
2. Scarface - We see that Gibbs has progressed in his drugdealing ways, even comparing himself to Scarface in the title. This song gives us valuable insight because he actually mentions Gary, IN where he grew up. He describes some of the ordeals he's had to go through to become this powerful (stick ups, drug deals, killing,) and now he is a very wanted man.
- Gibbs is now a very respected and powerful drugdealer in Gary.
3. Deeper - Oh man, one of the most powerful songs on the album. This song is not only about this unknown love interest Gibb's has but the title could also be attributed to him diving deeper into the drug game and gangster life. The use of "Slammin" to begin every verse can be interpreted of slamming drugs, enemies, or bitches but changes for each verse. But while Gibb's mostly talks about his struggles, in this song the title of "deeper" can also be applied to this unknown woman who is also getting herself deeper into shit by fucking different men and now she is pregnant without knowing who the father is at the shocking twist at the end. I haven't been this surprised by the ending of a rap verse since Kayne's Gold Digger, it was so composed it took me by surprise.
- While Gibb's was getting deeper into the drug game (going to jail, all types of crazy shit) Gibb's girl was also getting herself into some deep shit too by fucking with other guys and not knowing who her baby daddy is, because she did a lot of this while Freddie was in prison he was really hurt and cut deep.
4. High - What do most people do when they have a tragedy in life? Well a lot try to relax with drugs and alcohol. This is where I feel Gibb's just takes a break from life to relax and smoke some weed. This song also provides background when he started smoking back in Gary, he had no ambition for school and weed provided him another way to make some money. 2nd verse it seems he doesn't miss his ex that much haha life goes on. Danny's verse actually provides us with more insight than Gibb's at least in IMO. The line "Midwest living, oven open in the kitchen, heating up the house where your shit could come up missing." vividly shows the scourge of hardcore drugs in the Midwest and just how living in the Midwest (Detriot, Gary) really is. The skit at the end illustrates the use and effect of hardcore drugs (PCP)
- Gibb's moves on and smokes some weed with his niggas. But what's funny to me though is immediately after the title "Deeper" we get "High" the juxtaposition makes me think that it was made like that for a specific effect. Like Gibb's needed to leave that girl so he could move on and acquire more wealth.
5. Harold's - One of my favorite beats on the album and always, always, always makes me hungry for a box of chicken myself. So what do you do when you get really blazed? You go get some food of course! Gibb's seems to fancy Harold's quite a lot, but what this song describes is some of the adventures he has in Gary like getting run out of Marshalltown & fucking a girl in Miller Projects. The resemblance between Gibbs and Harold's is that while Harold's is always on point with the dope chicken wings and other items, Gibbs is always on point with the drugs. This place seems to hold a lot of significance for Gibbs, because no matter what happens in the streets of Gary and the Midwest. Harolds will always be there and it will be bomb.
- Gibb's is moving up in the drug game so quickly that he is now dealing different types of drugs and doing more high stakes things. But no matter what type of shit he gets into, Harold's will always be there and will be good, it provides a point of stability in his otherwise random life.
6. Bomb - "Slammin Drugs got me wakin up in cold sweats Sometimes im slightly off my rocker, but i'm on deck."
This is the level Gibb's is at right now. He is fully immersed in the game doing crazy shit like smoking dipped weed(weed with pcp) and robbing hella people, shit evening robbing the robbers! That how crazy Gibbs is now. I love the Fast Freddie's line because it references Harold's the track before. The Raekwon verse offers nothing of literary value to this story and frankly I think is just average, but don't crucify me.
- Gibbs is an now insane dude who's only out for the money and pussy & he would do anything to get it. Like a bomb is dangerous because it could go off at any minute, so is Gibbs now.
7. Shitsville - Ahh Shitsville AKA Gary, IN. This fitting tribute to Gibb's hometown is great just for the sheer amount of IN he goes. Verse 1 describes Gibbs thoughts on his actions in his younger age, its funny (peculiar) how all these activities he's describing can happen in any hood which I think is another name for Shitsville. The chorus is illustrating, that even though people may have money, or power, or respect, they still all bleed the same and die the same. And only six feet separate the coffin and throne. Gibbs realizes this everyday which is why he repeats the chorus a lot.
- He realizes that he could die at anytime now for the actions he's done before; but so could anyone else.
8. Thuggin - Oh wow where do we even begin?
The sample "Somebody warn the west, nigga ain't runnin'" foreshadows Gibbs entrance into LA and the scene over there.
"Fuck the rap shit my gangsta been solidified."
I absolutely love this line, because it brings the past seven songs up to date and actually turns this into a loose narrative now. For the past 8 songs we've been hearing Gibbs tell us stories of drug dealing, robbing, and other trades. but now he has actually mentioned rap as another way of getting money but he doesn't need that shit to make a living. The lines:
"I done been to jail and did my best not to repeat that I’m tryin to feed my family, give a fuck about your feedback Critically acclaimed, but that shit don't mean a thing When you rocking mics and still in microwaves cooking 'caine"
further illustrates the work ethic of Gibbs and his dual lifestyle now.
- Gibbs is getting richer & crazier and now incorporating rap into his money making schemes.
9. Real Remember. Everybody. Ain't. Loyal
This means a lot of things, it could mean the prelude of the 2nd verse, it could also mean that you trust no one, especially Gibbs because he will rob you.
The line "All the real niggas either in jail or deep in the soil." means that to prove that you are real you had to have done something to prove it and really the only ways to prove your a thug is either go to prison or die doing it. Any other way is just not feasible.
Verse 2 he absolutely destroys Young Jeezy here. The changing of the instrumental also from a frantic one to a more mellow vibe suggests that Gibbs has sort of moved on from the drugdealer life and more into the rap life, not to say he hasn't left drug dealing, but focusing more on rapping. If you didn't know, in his early rap career Gibbs signed a deal with Young Jeezy's record label CTE, but Gibbs and Snowman had their differences as you can see and Gibbs left because he didn't like taking orders from a talentless, weak man.
- This song basically describes Gibbs early rap career and the ordeals and more importantly marks the transition from Gangster Gibbs the dealer to Gangster Gibbs the rapper, as marked by the instrumental changes. Gibbs is still in Gary, IN at this point in our story.
10. Uno - After leaving Jeezy's label he finds major drive to make it to the top or be number one(Uno). Gibbs is now #1 in Drugdealing and Rapping in Gary. This song describes more activites on Gibbs ludicrous lifestyle and comments on the state of the rap industry today, even taking a shot a Lil Wayne!
The lines: "Shit's been watered down, the rap game they need us." illustrate the use of rappers cashing in on a fake gangster image, while Gibbs has actually put in work and effort to live a life like that.
- So Gibb's is doing pretty well for himself by dealing and rapping and appears to be on top. Still rich, still crazy as ever.
11. Robes - Now what do we usually think of when we hear robes? I think of a rich person like Hugh Hefner or some shit like that. Robe's are generally a clothing item that are identified with money and status. So what a perfect title to describe the peek of Gibb's success so far. The features in this song don't really contribute to the story. I noticed that in the past 3 songs all of Gibbs verse's have started with something to do about rap. This is how we really know that he is moving away from his drugdealing ways into a more legit form of business. While he still mentions his various exploits he talks about rap subjects more often now.
- Gibbs is straight flexin right now because he's #Uno.
12. Broken - Just like everything that come up, it must come down. This song is about the demise of Gibbs in Gary, IN. Verse 1 starts off with him praying to Allah for a curse more than a blessing which is very interesting & describes a young Gibbs breaking a promise to his Grandma. But he only broke his promise of not selling dope because there was not a lot of other ways to make money.
Verse 2, Gibbs describes his relationship with his father and how he used to be a cop. He says that the only thing they had in common was being crooked. This is one of my favorite verses on the whole album, because we see Gibbs in a sincere way that we really haven't seen before. The line: "Honestly, I know i'm out here fuckin up."
Always gives me chills because it shows that Gibbs is smart enough to realize he's doing bad things, but because of all the bad things he's done in the past, because of the all the promises that he's broken he can only continue to go on doing bad things.
- Gibbs has fallen off in Gary, his karma has finally caught up with him and makes him question whether he should stay in his hometown.
13. Lakers - "Nigga fuck it, I'll move my ass to Cali with my Indiana bucket."
One of my favorite lines ever. and so direct too! The beat with it's sped up soul sample and shimmering guitar line just adds to the west coast transformation of Gibbs, because if you noticed a lot of the instrumentals before Lakers were very dark, sparse, and cold, very east coast; But that's because Gibbs was in Gary, now that he's finally made the move to LA we will see that the beats become a lot more bigger and more grandiose all adding to the west coast feel.
This is the most transformational song on the album, because it literally represent's a new life for Gibbs. A fresh start. It's also sort of like a dream come true because ever since he was young he's been influenced by films like Boyz n the Hood and now that he was here he had a chance to finally live it.
"Too much pride to let this pussy industry play me out Repairing that broken dream, that’s what L.A. about"
- Gibbs has made the transition to LA and has barely looked back on his hometown because LA is just so damn cool and it offers a lot more opportunities for the type of work Gibbs is good at for sure.
14. Knicks - In Keeping up with the basketball theme(Gibbs is really great at keeping up with themes throughout the whole album, often mentioning previous ideas of names of songs in other verses.) he choose the Knicks in reference to Nickelbags of weed. In this song Gibbs remembers the struggle of first coming up in the game, but it could also symbolize of coming up in the LA drug game too as he has had to basically start over when he moved. This is a short song but mentions the death of Gibbs friend and partner in crime Kinnel Magee. Basically Gibbs is saying that if you want to be big, you gotta start small.
- Gibbs is rebuilding his lifestyle and status in L.A slowly but surely while reminiscing about his past.
Bonus Track Terrorist - This song is not on the album but it's in the Shame video so i thought i'd include it too, and i'm glad/u/Gavo265 reminded me about it because it's a dope ass beat from Madlib and a nice recap from Gibbs. In just one verse, Gibbs brings us up too speed as to whats been going on in LA. Besides get girls addicted to heroin and basically him, and ethering record executives in interviews, he's been handling probation well by basically keeping his shit low key and getting more legit connections.
- The heroin line transitions well as it's probably one of the girls that Gibbs talks about in Shame.
15. Shame - The sample that begins this song is a tune by the Manhattans, which I thought was interesting because it keeps this East v. West theme from the past 2 songs. This song is all about the ladies. Now that Gibbs has rebuilt himself he gets to deal with the wonderful women of the pacific coast. Of course Gibbs has no time for a relationship but these girls think otherwise and often take walks of shame from his house even though he explicit states it to them in the beginning.
- Gibb's has now reached a comfortable position in L.A and he even has time to fuck with some bitches, he has completely rebuilt his life on the West Coast and is straight chillin'
16. Watts - I absolutely love crackhead monologues, which seems kinda weird but some of them just say the dumbest shit ever, like it's so dumb that it's impossible to think of unless you were on crack.
- Here Gibb's uncle Big Time Watts hears of Gibb's success in rapping out in LA and calls Gibbs to basically say fuck you for not sharing of the wealth with him. To me it seems like this voicemail is Gary calling Gibbs back; but Gibbs is not having any of that shit, he's in LA now and not looking back.
17. Pinata - Straight bars, but adds nothing to the story. Think of it like the credits to the end of the movie.
I hope you guys liked my interpretation of this great album and sorry for any punctuation or grammatical errors I wrote this in 1 hour between classes. But if you got all the way down here, thank you so much for reading!
