Freddie Gibbs, rising hip-hop star: 'I didn't see myself living past 18 in Gary, Ind.'
Freddie Gibbs performs at The Hideout's Mad Decent Block Party in Chicago, August 21. (Tribune photo by William DeShazer)
Freddie Gibbs left Gary, Ind., for Los Angeles in 2006 to further his rap career, but to hear him tell it, Gary never left him.
“I never really left in a way because just about everything in my songs is about growing up there,” says Gibbs, who was born Freddie Tipton in Gary 28 years ago. “It’s still home. I still go back there a lot. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in.”Gibbs initially headed West to sign a major-label deal with Interscope Records and to record with such high-profile producers as Just Blaze and Polow da Don. But the album was never released in part because Gibbs’ hard-edged, reality-rap style wasn’t deemed commercial enough.