2022 studio album by Freddie Gibbs
Soul Sold Separately (stylized as $oul $old $eparately) is the fifth studio album by rapper Freddie Gibbs. It was released through ESGN and Warner Records on September 30, 2022, making it his first to be released on a major label.
Background and concept.
"Soul Sold Separately" is a concept album themed around the $$$ ("Triple-S") Resort and Casino, a fictional Las Vegas hotel where, according to the album's narrative, Gibbs is working in seclusion to complete the record. Gibbs has stated that the "gambling theme" of the album was chosen as a reference to the risks he needed to take to pursue his music career.
The album's title originates from "Education", a track from the 2019 project "Bandana". Gibbs describes the title's meaning as follows: ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;In the last line of the rap, I said: 'Drugs for the free, soul sold separately.' What I meant by that line – 'Drugs for the free' – was that, yeah, I was selling drugs and making money, but what was I really making in the process? Like, in exchange for my soul?
Critical reception.
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, "Soul Sold Separately" received an average score of 78 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Critics generally described the album's prevailing moods as a juxtaposition of lavish aesthetics and dark, vulnerable lyrical content. Thomas Hobbs of "Telegraph.co.uk" characterizes the album's moods as a balance "between feeling like you're king of the world, unwinding in a presidential suites, and being... paranoid of jealous enemies". Paul Simpson of "AllMusic" notes that, despite "tales of luxurious excess", the album's lyrics predominantly "focus on the bleakest aspects of the struggle". The introspective aspects of the album have been generally praised, with Gibbs described as displaying "unflinching honesty" and "sincerity [that] can be bracing". Matthew Ritchie of "Pitchfork" observes that "when [Gibbs] homes in on his own words and self-critiques, he's razor sharp", although in a more critical review, Paul Attard of "Slant" comments that Gibbs mostly discusses his controversies "in ways that allow him to avoid explaining himself fully". Gibbs' technical skill on the album received widespread critical praise: in various reviews, he has been characterized as a "technically... flawless emcee", as utilizing "incredible rap pyrotechnics", and as "the eternal technician" with a "craftsman-like approach".
The production on "Soul Sold Separately" has been noted for its variety, featuring a diverse lineup of producers who bring sounds inspired by various East Coast, Midwestern, and Southern regional scenes. Within this diversity, however, several commonalities were noted. Dash Lewis of "HipHopDX" describes a "pretty cohesive" usage of features like "spacey synths and lush soul samples that snake around tightly coiled drums", and Paul Attard of "Slant" characterizes the production as "uniformly lavish". This luxurious feel has received mixed reviews; the "HipHopDX" review states that "at times [...] the glossiness makes the album buckle under its own pressure", while Matthew Ramirez of "NPR" states that the project "sometimes labors under the weight of a forced progression". The "Slant" review was particularly critical of the opulence, describing the album as having "a decidedly perfunctory whiff of excessive grandeur". A more positive appraisal of the production came from Paul Simpson of "AllMusic", who described the album as "grander in scope than Gibbs' rightly praised single-producer efforts" while still being "nearly as consistent".
The skits which take place between some songs were less positively reviewed. "HipHopDX" described the skits as the "most jarring" part of the album, and "Pitchfork" characterized them as "nonsense" that the listener must "make an effort to sort through".
Track listing.
Notes
Personnel.
Musicians
Technical
Visuals
References.
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