Freddie Gibbs

Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper. After being signed to Interscope Records in 2006, Gibbs recorded his first album under the label. However, he was eventually dropped and the album was cancelled. Gibbs later signed with Young Jeezy's CTE World and released a number of mixtapes through the label, including 2012's highly acclaimed Baby Face Killa. After leaving CTE in early 2013, Gibbs formed his own label ESGN, and released his album ESGN in June of that year. Since then, he has gone on to release four solo albums, as well as four collaborative albums, two with Madlib (as MadGibbs): Piñata (2014) and Bandana (2019), and two with the Alchemist: Fetti (2018) (also a collaboration with rapper Currensy) and Alfredo (2020), the latter of which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Early life Fredrick Tipton was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, and grew up at 17th and Virginia St. on the city's east side. He played American football at Ball State University on an athletic scholarship but was eventually expelled from college. At the age of 19, he was enlisted into the U.S. Army as part of a pre-trial diversion program when he was on trial for theft and gun charges, but was dishonorably discharged only eight months later after being caught smoking marijuana. He then began working at a Gary mall, where he met local hip hop producer Finger Roll, who, according to Gibbs, was "the only guy [in Gary] that had a studio." Gibbs then joined Finger Roll's No Tamin Entertainment crew and began pursuing a rap career.