Quick Sketch: Freddie Gibbs "How We Do" ('93 'Til Infinity)

Just straight off the bat, if you can't make the use/mention distinction you are a monster that society needs protecting from. A fucking wannabe red guard hard on, and the red guard were a paralegal pack of hard ons.

That's just something I feel needs saying before talking about the emotional impact of a piece of gangsta rap, possibly wanting to cite lyrics to make a point and I can't be bothered tediously expurgating, bowdlerizing and fig-leafing a work of art in deference to the sensibilities of people this post frankly has no value beyond grist to.

This is the track Youtube algorithms eventually spat out at me after I'd listened to Souls of Mischief's '93 'Til Infinity enough times. I'd never heard of Freddie Gibbs, perhaps because he doesn't use a memorable MC handle and I'm up to about '94 in working through the infinite supply of hip hop. 

Obviously, it made an immediate impression. One of confusion. Which is why after the first time I heard it and was like "that's not '93 'Til Infinity, but it is '93 'Til Infinity... I actually watched the video.

I think 3-year-old comment from "@righteousone8454" captures my second impression perfectly:

No stutter, no mistakes, one take, old school beat, roof of New York, boombox. Transported to 90s. 

Nostalgia.

I certainly can't improve upon it. This is just straight up no frills great rap AND it feels last century. Like a perfect forgery of a Golden Age Hip-Hop masterpiece (such as '93 'Til Infinity by Souls of Mischief). Could Freddie Gibbs be the System Of A Down of hip-hop? A great act that missed the boomtimes of their genre yet succeeded none-the-less?

Maybe. Who cares. What tickles my fancy about this track is its value as an example that great art ≠ great message.

I mean the Disney Renaissance movies are probably the best known examples of this, but also pretty much all the art and culture religion has produced.

But this is such a great example because it comes with a twist. For example the track opens with:

[Intro: Freddie Gibbs] Yeah Still too cool to love these hoes All I wanna do is fuck these hoes

For those who do not know, "hoes" is a synonym for "whores." The songs hook features:

It’s how we do
Cause why have one when a nigga can have two
Three or four hoes I like the ass brand new

Terrible message right? And I should disclose up front, I don't believe in close reading as sound epistemology. I believe text is either clear or unclear and I think communicating with clarity or with a lack of clarity both have valid applications. I'm a fan of what I know of Popper.

For example, I'm reasonably confident that when Freddie Gibbs declares that he's "still too cool to love these hoes" he is referring to women in general, not just working prostitutes. I'm confident because if he was talking specifically about prostitutes and not euphemistically about women, it would be clear that he is just sadly confused about the nature of exchanging sex for money.

Generally though, I don't believe in mind-reading, and clearly many people in the present day think they can read minds, it's probably the main barrier I face to getting out of my silo.

Ostensibly "How We Do" superficially comes off as a pretty straight forward message that bitches be hoes, don't trust your heart to them or they'll fuck you, the way to navigate life young men is to have two, three, four hoes on the go and preferably "brand new" ie. you are their first male companion.

Terrible message right? Like clearly this is a conclusion drawn from a limited sample, a great reason why lived experience and standpoint are not sound epistemology. Just open your eyes and find numerous examples of men and women getting along in a more or less constructive, stable even loving way.

Now something I just like, to the point of being impressed, is the simplicity and beauty of the video Gibbs made for this track. He displays that tape like "no strings attached, nothing up my sleeve" before putting it into the boom box and railing against how all bitches be hoes.

It is just my opinion, my impression, but of all things a song about bitches, hoes, pussy, booty and titties can be, purity runs through it. It's a pure feat of rapping, and a pure message from the heart.

I hemisected the hook, that's the first thing that had me question whether the message was terrible:

It’s how we do
Cause why have one when a nigga can have two
Three or four hoes I like the ass brand new
Just fuck with me and I'll stay true
“I love you"
Yeah yeah, I love you too
It's how we do, do, do-do-do
It's how we do, do, do-do-do
It's how we do, do, do-do-do

I got no idea what in these particular ebonics the grammatical significance of "just fuck with me and I'll stay true" so that phrase kind of confuses me. I suspect it might be sort of grammatically similar to "no woman no cry" of Marley fame, which I'm told is not an island way of saying "a bitch ain't one" but more like an abridged version of "no, woman, you don't have to cry."

It's the "I love you" followed by "yeah yeah, I love you too." that confuses me in a touching way. 

I feel "How we do" is a heartfelt outpouring of how Freddie Gibbs' heart got broken over and over, and like he started posturing but the fact is he's singing about these women because he's attached to them, he loves them, they broke his heart. 

But on the low I used to sweat that hoe, I had to let that go
'Cause baby had me with a hell of a crush (Yeah)
Love letters on her locker, I ain't give no fuck
What other niggas thought about me (Still don't)
'Cause I was all about we, me and her 'til I D-I-E (Yeah)
Made me want to do some shit like carve her name in a tree
Like we was K-I-S-S-I-N-G
But little did I know she had a dude
With hella money, hella jewels, I was just another nigga in school (Yeah)
A straight fool, for thinking I was special or different (Yeah)
Lost my respect for the rest of the bitches (Ha)

 That's a tragedy, a Greek tragedy, just with boys and girls, not man on man action. 

There are nights I've cried over such tragedies and had I known about this track, I would have felt less alone when I needed to be. Boy I feel a lot of pain reading "I had to let that go" and that excruciatingly painful exercise is kind of buried at the start of this particular story. The conclusion I think is bad, but true in terms of the effect this had on disillusioning (or rather re-illusioning) Freddie.

Met a girl last year that I thought was mine (Yeah)
Came all the way to NY to see me rhyme
Flew her ass out to LA for Christmas time
And shit was fine, we on the same beat
And she ain't got a problem with me being in the street
I know I ain't her one and only, but I'm hoping I ain't one of many
Baby pretty, but she tryna play me silly, 'cause she really
Wasn't thinkin' 'bout religion when she tell me the dick bomb
But then she up and left me 'cause I practice Islam
I guess Mom told her that the boy ain't right (Yeah)
And she gon' pray to Jesus Christ to take me out of her life
And out of her sight, she keep it undercover (Yeah)
I really used to mean it when I told her that I love her (For real)
But now I know that love is a four letter word
Like fuck and shit
So love, you can suck my dick

Big words from a little boy who's heart got broke. I think it's what makes this track's lyrics so relatable while the message being terrible. If I project a small amount of feeling onto it, I feel like Freddie is speaking the language of purest hurt and rejection. That impulse to communicate how much someone has hurt you by hurting them back. 

It's amazing how few people feel the desire to say "that really hurt me" sooner than the desire to say "you're a bitch and a slag and I never liked you anyway!" 

So how does Freddie Gibbs do? I don't know, but I think he is telling us, the whole thing is an example of how he protects himself from hurt and rejection, but really he loves someone. That's how he appears to do, it's just under all the posturing (in terms of this "women ain't shit" message, not ability at which Freddie Gibbs is the real deal) there's these little admissions that actually he hasn't lost his romantic ideals, his belief in love, his ability to give his heart to another. It appears that he is still willing to risk the hurt to obtain love. He's telling you this story because he's begging you not to hurt him

So in some ways, this isn't new rhymes rapped over the '93 'Til Infinity, it's also a reimagining message-wise of "Handle Me With Care" by the Traveling Wilbury's. Just he's George Harrison and Roy Orbison in one.

And it sounds good. A track worth getting obsessed over.