Freddie Gibbs and Madlib are two larger-than-life figures who carry diametric mystiques. Gibbs is the Rust Belt hero, the world-beating outlaw who bathes with snakes and has been serving impregnable street raps since 2009. Madlib is much more elusive but no less prolific—the perpetually shroomed-out producer who spends his days mining obscure samples from his vast record library that, as of 2014, weighed an estimated four tons. He is the closest thing in hip hop to an actual wizard.

Piñata, Gibbs and Madlib’s 2014 joint album, proved them to be a match made in heaven.