Events

[HIP HOP] In a recent interview with NPR, rapper Freddie Gibbs named Buffalo native and funk superstar Rick James as one of his inspirations. Not because Gibbs makes music that sounds anything like what James made in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but because of where he says, James’ mind was while making his music. In the interview, Gibbs ruminates on James’ influence on him and rap music in general. “I was like, ‘Damn.’ Rick James was a R&B guy. Like, he was really one of the first guys in the — he was selling drugs to really fund his music career… And it’s kind of like the basis of where a lot of these rappers are right now. They’re like, ‘Ah, man. I gotta hustle and do what I gotta do to fund my career.’ It’s crazy to see that Rick James was actually doing that in the ’60s and ’70s. It was just wild.” For Gibbs, growing up in Gary, Indiana in the mid 1980s was probably a similar experience to James’ growing up in Buffalo. Where Gibbs’ hometown was the birthplace of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, he looked to the grittier Rick James and George Clinton as early influences as he could better relate to their life experiences. Now, the 33-year-old Gibbs is several LPs into an impressive musical career that’s been defined by his relentless, tell-it-like-it-is lyrical style on albums like ESGN, and 2015’s Shadow of a Doubt—and underscored by a lauded collaborative album with Madlib, 2014’s Piñata. On Wednesday, April 27, Freddie Gibbs will come to Buffalo’s Mohawk Place for what should be an intense and intimate show. Buffalo hip hop favorites Short Moscato and Lucky Seven open the show.