One of the more compelling rap albums of 2014 was Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s collaborative effort, Piñata. Freddie Gibbs is versatile enough that he easily makes the jump from some of the more modern and popular beats to the backroom, 90’s style that Madlib brings as a producer.
A standout track from the album is “High,” featuring Danny Brown. It is a compelling ode to drugs that will have the listener singing along by the end, and a major part of that is Madlib’s production. The song is driven by sets of 3-note guitar riffs and with some other strings that fade nicely into the background, all backed up by a quick drum line of kicks and some lighter bass. The tempo is relatively slow and relaxed, which creates a compelling sound when it is offset with the fast paced rhymes of Freddie Gibbs and the ever-unusual delivery of Danny Brown.
The melody of the song is driven by the guitar which gives the listener a bit of a gliding feeling as each guitar riff starts with a low note, before continuing with a higher note and finally ending with a note lower and longer than the other notes which creates the rhythm of that layer of the melody. But, there is not a particularly large melodic range as the pitch of all of the strings is relatively high. The rhythm of the other strings is less apparent most of the way through the song, but the rhythm of the drums is very quick as the notes are short and frequent. There is no syncopation or swing in this track. The melodic phrases of the guitar blend together as they are similar in contour and the same in size, but vary in pitch. Underneath the guitar, there are more strings which are mostly hidden by the guitar and vocals, but during the chorus of the song the guitar is stripped away and a high pitched singing sample is placed over a beat that consists purely of the drums and the strings that are not easily heard the rest of the time. Those strings are very high pitched and use elision as they are not played in separate notes. They have a melody that swings rises up creating a high contour with increases in height. For both layers of the melody the interval size is small.
As mentioned above, the texture of the melody has two layers with the drums and vocals then added on top of everything. So there are two layers of chordophones on top of one layer of membranophones and ideophones. The drums help add continuity to the track and help it flow along as they have a quick tempo, but the guitar samples linger and provide a more free and laid back stoner vibe, through their much slower tempo, to complement the drums. The strings in the background really bring the sound of the track together by adding some harmony. The harmony is slight since the strings other than the guitar fade to the back, but it is major and is filled with sweet notes and a high timbre, which the deep and slightly raspy voice of Freddie Gibbs offsets in an appealing way. As a whole, the track is well balanced in terms of tempo and pitch between the fast drums and vocals and the slow guitar, and the high pitched strings and the low pitched voice of Freddie Gibbs. Gangsta Gibbs provides two strong verses and a newly sober Danny Brown provided a strong guest appearance as is expected of him, and it is all tied together by a chorus of “I get high” which comes from a Freda Payne sample (I get high [on your memory]) and is complimented by Freddie Gibbs’ intermittent exclamations of “I get high.” Enjoy!
Song link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDU1jJnkqp8
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