Freddie Gibbs Shares A Timely Cover Of Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter In America”

Freddie Gibbs’ cover of Gil Scott-Heron is a part of a collaborative EP between ESPN’s The Undefeated and Hollywood Records.

Freddie Gibbs has shared a cover of Gil Scott-Heron‘s “Winter in America.”

Released as part of the Black History Always – Music For The Movement EP, the track finds Gibbs singing over a reinterpreted version of the Scott-Heron song, which is the title track of the late poet’s 1974 album of the same name. (The song didn’t actually appear on the album though, instead being featured on his 1975 album, The First Minute of a New Day.)

The cover is timely, not only considering that we’re currently in winter, but because of themes addressed in the song. Scott-Heron sings of oppression and how it shows up in multiple forms: social, geographical and environmental. The artist wanted to use the season of winter as a metaphor to speak to issues that society faced during that time, which is why he named his 1974 album Winter in America. Now, almost 50 years later, we’re unfortunately still plagued by those issues, making Gibbs’ cover even more poignant.

The Black History Always – Music For The Movement EP is the second volume of a collaboration between ESPN’s The Undefeated and Hollywood Records. In related news, Gibbs recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. The 256-minute conversation finds the rapper, Rogan, and Brian Moses (creator of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle) talking about the election and new presidential administration, Matthew McConaughey and Shia LaBeouf’s body transformations for Dallas Buyers Club and The Tax Collector, and more.