Piñata (originally titled Cocaine Piñata) is the debut collaboration album of Indiana emcee Freddie Gibbs and legendary hip-hop producer Madlib. It was released through Madlib’s Madlib Invazion label on March 18th 2014. The album features the singles “Deeper,” “Thuggin',” and “Shame.” The two spoke on the background and creative process of Piñata in an interview with Rolling Stone: Madlib: [Freddie] recorded the vocals on his own. Like, I handed him all the CDs, and he picked out all the beats he wanted, he recorded them at his studio, then he handed those off to me, then we finished it. I would add little things, like these choruses. Gibbs: I was still in the streets when I first started that Madlib album. I was, then I wasn’t. You can tell the progression on the record, though. You can tell the different places that I’m in, ‘cause I did it over the course of three years, coming up with the ideas and concepts. The album gathered huge critical acclaim, featuring in several year end lists with the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and Billboard. Writing for HipHopDX, which gave Piñata a 4.5/5 rating, Jay Balfour stated: Piñata’s most obvious accomplishment is as a polished contemporary gangster rap album, and it’s a feat in subject as much as sound with Gibbs at his self-reflective best. Madlib is as forward as he has been in years and offers his emcee production to flex his delivery in a way he’s never had a chance to do before, riding out to finicky loops instead of more rigidly overlaid drums as he’s done previously. […] It’s also a new benchmark for Gibbs and may end up as a career calling card. If nothing else, it quickly sounds like one of the year’s best.