Freddie Gibbs and Madlib Release The Diamond Mine Sessions Only On Amazon Music

Featured Photo Credit: Greyland

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib released a brand-new, three-song Amazon Original project for Amazon Music entitled The Diamond Mine Sessions. Recorded at the legendary Diamond Mine Studios in Queens, NY, the new release finds Freddie and Madlib recreating the music from their critically acclaimed 2019 album Bandana with a full band — specifically Leon Michels’ funk-and-soul band, El Michels Affair, which first rose to prominence recreating iconic Wu Tang classics with a live band. Together, Freddie Gibbs, Madlib, and the El Michels Affair effortlessly transform the expertly curated beats for “Palmolive,” “Gat Damn,” and “Freestyle Shit” into new, soulful classics, which are available to stream on Amazon Music,here.

“Madlib is the greatest of all time at picking samples, so it was no doubt in my mind that he was going to pick the best band for us to do this with,” said Freddie Gibbs. “And this is definitely a different thing. A special type thing.”

“This one-of-a kind partnership between Freddie Gibbs and Madlib is already a legendary one,” said Stephen Brower with Artist Relations at Amazon Music. “To be able to add the distinctive sound that Leon and El Michels Affair bring to the mix and to capture it all in a bona fide magic factory — The Diamond Mine — is really special and something we’re honored to be a part of.”

For an in-depth look at the recording process for this Amazon Original, fans can watch a behind-the-scenes video documenting the making and recording of the album here, which captures Freddie Gibbs and Madlib collaborating in studio with the El Michels Affair. Three additional performance clips from the Diamond Mine Sessions will follow next week on May 14^th.

Bandana, out now via Keep Cool/RCA Records and Madlib Invazion/ESGN, has received universal acclaim since its release last year. The album is the pair’s follow up to their 2014 critically-acclaimed debut Piñata, and includes additional features from Pusha T, Anderson .Paak, Killer Mike, Yasiin Bey, and Black Thought. Rolling Stone described the album as “glorious – the sound of two rap veterans still working at the height of their powers, testing the outer limits of their native chemistry, only to discover that those limits might not exist,” and Complex named it the No. 2 album of the year. Earlier this year, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib released Bandana Beats, which featured the instrumentals from Bandana. The album is out now via Madlib Invazion / ESGN / Keep Cool / RCA.

Amazon Music listeners can find The Diamond Mine Sessions on Amazon Music’s Elite Rap playlist. Customers can also simply ask, “Alexa, play The Diamond Mine Sessions” in the Amazon Music app and on Alexa-enabled devices. In addition to the new track, Amazon Music listeners can access hundreds of Amazon Originals featuring both emerging and established artists across numerous genres, available to stream and purchase only on Amazon Music.

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.