“Piñata” by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

Pound for pound, one of the best rap albums of this century—it turns 10 years old today.

Expectations will always be high when two top-notch technicians join forces on a creative endeavor. On Piñata, the first full-length studio collaboration between Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, the two legends managed to exceed outsized expectations from the hip-hop community.

In the run-up to this album’s release, Gibbs aptly summed it up as “a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax. I will show you my flaws, I’ll show you what I’ve done wrong and what I’ve fd up at… I don’t regret s***, but I’ll show you the things I’m not proud of.” The autobiographical nature of Gibbs’ rhymes, which bounce between pronouncements of violence, drug dealing, and harrowing coming-of-age snapshots (sometimes all in the same track), ensure the resulting images stay burned in your mind’s eye. Whether he’s serving up some of the most brutal rhymes of the century on cuts like “S***sville” or “Thuggin’” or toning down the theatrics and breaking into what feels like a real conversation on “Deeper,” Gibbs tries to outdo himself at every turn. It’s genuinely outstanding work.

Madlib’s production more than keeps up with the veteran emcee, amplifying the cinematic scope and stakes as only he can. Sometimes, that involves hairpin pitch or tempo changes that zoom in on crucial details, as if you’re holding an aged polaroid a fraction of an inch from your face. Other times, he zooms out, using soaring strings and spacy psychedelics to widen the soundstage and give Gibbs and his co-stars—among them Early Sweatshirt and Scarface—the room they need to stretch their legs. The result is a match made in audiophile heaven: A rap album so exquisite in its construction, and so arresting in its raw storytelling that you almost forget it’s 17 tracks long and runs a little over an hour.

It’s nothing short of a masterpiece.