Review: Alfredo - Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
By Luke Robinson & Greg Wiacek
LUKE: Holy shit, I’ve been SO excited for this album. Freddie Gibbs is one of the hardest grinding MCs in the business right now, and has shown to work best in the MC/producer mold - just look at the albums Piñata and Bandana, made in collaboration with Madlib.
GREG: If you’ve followed Freddie Gibbs over the course of this past decade, the demand for an MC/producer album with The Alchemist has risen ever since the release of the mini-album Fetti, featuring Gibbs, Alchemist and underground legend Curren$y. Gibbs and Alchemist soon announced a collaborative project with the running title The Devil’s Palace (taking its name from a line from the song “Scottie Pippen”), but I’ve been waiting for that thing since I was smoking water bottle bongs in a treehouse in the suburbs. And while Fetti was a highlight for all involved, it only piqued more interest for a collaboration between the Alchemist and Gibbs, as the potential for a modern, blunted, hardcore hip hop project was too enticing. But now, it’s finally arrived.
LUKE: Fetti truly slapped. I love Curren$y, but it was clear that Gibbs and Alchemist were running the show on that album. Alchemist provides minimal beats with obscure soul and prog-rock chops for Gibbs to run free range on like it’s Grand Theft Auto V. There are some serious highlights with Curren$y as well, but the Gibbs/Alchemist chemistry reigns supreme.
Now let's bump this new shit hard and share our thoughts. IT’S TRACK BY TRACK, KID.
1. “1985”
LUKE: This was an interesting single. I really love this beat, it’s got this woozy, free-flowing, old-school prog guitar sample. It sounds like the perfect backdrop to cruise to after a successful bank robbery.
GREG: DON'T LOSE THE BEAT, MOTHERFUCKER. What a grand, celebratory entrance this is.
LUKE: I immediately notice that Gibbs sounds POLISHED as fuck. He is switching up flows like on Bandana, but he feels more comfortable here. Bandana is phenomenal because Madlib pushes Gibbs way out of his comfort zone, and he fights tooth and claw to keep up with his synthetic chops. But here on Alfredo, Gibbs and Alchemist are working together comfortably and fluidly. My favorite lyric is definitely “Geekers beamin’ up to Scotty in my crack lobby.” Have you ever heard someone with so much street cred reference the ‘Trek?
GREG: Agreed, I think the Alchemist in particular is a really good curator and tailors his style to the personality and voice for whomever he works with (just pick any project fully produced by him in the last ten years). He seems to serve as the perfect foil for Gibbs’ technical but smooth delivery. It’s like a PB&J, or a blunt wrap and weed, these two. “Michael Jordan 1985/Bitch I travel with a cocaine circus” has me sold already - it’s also a great tie-in after watching The Last Dance documentary series.
2. “God Is Perfect”
LUKE: This is a typical Alchemist beat, but it still goes in. Sounds like something Griselda would hop on, which is more than okay by me. The percussion is so warm with its snap and slight drumstick hits. Gibbs murders the hook and FLOWS on this one. But the psychedelic outro is where it gets me - the Alchemist shows throughout this thing how dynamically sequenced the songs are. Freddie’s lyrics aren’t as memorable here, but then again, this song is a focus of flow and sheer groove.
GREG: You know you’re getting a quality track when Gibbs comes in with the “microphone check” adlibs. He starts out rapping in a higher register, sort of a throwback to some of the flows he was using on Shadow of A Doubt’s “Fuckin Up The Count,” and then returns to his regular voice with that machine-gun flow. He treats the beat like a punching bag on this one. The muted horn underneath is a really nice touch, and begins to establish the nocturnal atmosphere I get throughout this tape.
3. “Scottie Beam”
LUKE: Dude, I swear I have had this beat in my head for the past two weeks. An absolute highlight of this album with its swirling Rhodes chords and jazzy, chiming piano embellishments. Freddie seems to be on his “Deeper” tip, guiding his lyrics towards the insightful and reflective. I personally love the lyric “Will never let this industry demasculinize me/I do murder barefaced, don’t need no mask to disguise me.” It’s an excellent pairing of violent imagery with a deeper reflection on the music industry’s taking advantage of POC.
Also, have you ever heard Rick Ross rap over a beat with this few percussion? Man, he sounds better than he has in a decade! Or at least since his “Devil in a New Dress” feature. The revolution is the genocide, my dude. What a perfect time for that refrain. Finally, ALCHEMIST AGAIN WITH THE PERFECT OUTRO, so spacious and psychedelic.
GREG: This song continues on the nocturnal tip, the twinkling piano line just sounds so luxurious. I love Freddie’s rhyme scheme and cadence as he describes the scene of him getting pulled over by a cop. He opens up the scheme with “He pulled me over, I asked him, ‘yo, what’s the problem sir?’,” and has the restraint to refrain from using “officer” as a rhyme until the fourth bar. There’s a second Michael Jordan/Bulls reference here as well. I like to think that Freddie Gibbs and Rick Ross are having a glass of wine just musing on shit. Who else to lace this with than a voice as full as Rick Ross?
4. “Look At Me”
LUKE: Definitely the most underlooked cut from the reviews/reactions I have seen. The sweet vocal cut is so effortless with how it is stitched together. From a production standpoint, Alchemist does not seem flashy, but his seamless attention to detail with sampling needs to be stated. This beat is a great example of how Alchemist has crafted his signature style in the latter days of his career (this past decade or so). Long gone are the days of clinically sterile Eminem beats. Gibbs adds some punchy stabs of a triplet flow, but the lyrics leave a lot to be desired. This was absolutely meant to be an interlude, but shit, what a great interlude!
GREG: Agreed, this one might come off a bit interludish, but the vocal sample completely sells it for me. It’s intoxicating and dreamlike, something I can drown in - Freddie does a nice tie-in with the “look at me” mantra in the beat. How does he flow so effortlessly about cooking crack and not run out of ways to make it sound fresh every time?!?
LUKE: Gibbs continues to show he’s the current King of Coke Raps. Honestly, Pusha T, Gibbs and Alchemist should do the Coke King mixtape next. The game will forever be fucked up.
GREG: Add Benny The Butcher to it, and I don’t think I’d ever listen to another rap album. Speaking of….
5. “Frank Lucas”
LUKE: Oh, wow, look at Greg making a segue to perfectly bring us to the monstrous cut, “Frank Lucas”. Jesus fucking Christ dude, where do I begin. This is the scariest, eerily creepingest beat ever. The drone and that honk at the end of the measure is SINISTER. Freddie kills his verse, but knows best to leave the back half of the cut for Benny. You are seriously either a stupid or an incredibly generous man to ask Benny to collab on a track. The dude has one of the best pen games in rap right now, hands down. My mouth hit the floor when Benny said, “Never took an L, but a few lost to mine/New loft downtown and this view was hard to find/Sold lines to abusers, now I abuse y’all with lines.” I couldn’t believe he said that while bragging about his Buffalo penthouse apartment. Dude is so fucking hard, I can’t even.
GREG: This beat is MEAN. These guys aren’t here to fuck around - Gibbs tells the whole rap game that “Since Gangsta Gibbs brought back the bars, I see a lot of mes,” revealing how he “wishin they mamas would have swallowed” only to then directly call out his ex-mentor Young Jeezy. BUT THEN THE BUTCHER COMETH - Benny is my favorite rapper to “break through” in the past couple of years, and if you’re going to make a hard ass coke song, he’s the guy to get on it. I just HAVE to reiterate the bars “Sold lines to abusers, now I abuse ya’ll with lines” - indeed, they’re not here to fuck around.
LUKE: I love how we are on the same exact page with that line. Benny better get on that washed XXL Freshman List. That’ll be the last time I pay attention to anything Complex.
GREG: Dude is in his mid-30s, could you even imagine him like hopping on to do a freestyle and then you have like Lil Keed following up after him on a cypher?
LUKE: It’s so ridiculous, but who wouldn't want to see it?
6. “Something To Rap About”
LUKE: God, we’re in the fuckin’ POCKET right now with this album. The beat is so dreamy, it sounds like a chop from George Benson. The slinky guitar lines are just beautiful. I love how guitar-focused Alc is with the beats on this album. Gibbs murders his verse; in fact, the lyric “Lobster lollipops and crustaceans ho/What are you mad about? I fucked you twice in Vegas, that pussy wasn’t shit to brag about'', is SO crude but undeniably Freddie. I could see him clowning around saying EXACTLY this on his IG story in a second. Most notably, I love that Gibbs actually got Tyler to go back to his cold-blooded rap style, but this time it is way more mature and less edgy. I really did not care for IGOR, as it was too gossamer and poppy for me, so it was amazing to see Tyler can still channel the aggression in him.
GREG: This was definitely the most surprising guest feature to say the least. I know the two have fucked around a bit on Tyler’s Jackass-esque [adult swim] show Loiter Squad, but never musically, and these two are basically as far apart from each other as you can get. There’s been quite a few solo drinking nights I’ve had to this tape, and this beat is further testament to the certain jazzy lounge vibe that it excellently conveys. Trying not to just restate what Luke’s saying, but that guitar line could be looped for me for ages and I wouldn’t get tired of it. They compliment each other much better than I was expecting, doing their own thing for the most part but in a complimentary way.
LUKE: So fucking true, they provide such a nice contrast to each other, but the gruffness of their voices blend together seamlessly.
7. “Baby $hit”
LUKE: Once again, JESUS CHRIST this beat. I am such a sucker for droning beats. It contains such a beautiful melody that is hidden like it’s playing hide and seek - in a weird way, it’s almost shoegaze. But what makes this beat stick out so much is the percussion. It’s much more hard-hitting than any of the other cuts on the album. Like that snare is sooooo raw. Alchemist has some of the best percussion tracks, and I am so glad a sharp and aggressive rapper like Gibbs can take advantage of them.
Gibbs flow here is top notch. It is by far the best I have heard him flow since Piñata. He is fucking hitting every pocket like he bumped into a mall goth in JNCO jeans on a crowded subway. Everytime I hear him flow, I am wincing my teeth and jetting my neck out like a pigeon…or Pino Pallidrino playing bass. It is just so fucking intense.
GREG: Gun to my head, I think this is my favorite song on the tape. That snare is so fucking crisp. The transition from the previous song really elevates it, and its a big part of why I think it sticks out so much for me everytime I go through the whole album. Gibbs goes through four or five different flows that are fast and free flowing that it sounds effortless, such a joy to hear. I’m a little salty that this song only truly runs for about two and a half minutes with a sort of half-assed fade out, but this is the point of Alfredo where I say to myself “yeah, this is a good album”.
LUKE: Absolutely, it was a weird fade out, but I am used to those types of awkward momentum jumps on a Gibbs album. Also, Alchemist has been making these songs so cohesive in flow, I can forgive him for a little misstep.
8. “Babies & Fools”
LUKE: Straight up, this is the weirdest beat on this record. I dig it, but it took me a while. Probably because it’s just goofy. It is definitely the most bubbly song in terms of mood, and acts as a refreshing breath of air from all the murderous coke anthems. The rapping gets a bit boring for me, though, after hearing Gibbs aggressively flow on song after song. I do love how he leaves space in the hook for the “All I Need'' vocal refrain. It’s interactive and shows the sheer amount of chemistry the two have together - Gibbs is literally trading bars with Alchemist, only instead of Mudfoot’s rapping it’s a back and forth with a sample. Conway’s verse is insanely introspective though, which is a weird route for him. He teased a bit of this side of him on his recent collab tape with Alc, titled LULU.
GREG: Yeah, I mentioned this earlier, but feel like the album has an overall “lounge” feel to it and this beat kind of fits into that mold, albeit in a more upbeat and whimsical way. I do think the beat is catchy, and agree on the use of the vocal sample to fill in some of the open space Gibbs leaves. BUT, I MUST CONFESS: I’m WAAAAAY behind on my Conway listening. I know he’s Griselda, but he’s always kind of come across as the more “straight man” of the group between the group tapes and solo albums. A common complaint towards him is that he doesn’t really open up much, so I thought it was a nice touch for him to be getting into the situation with his family and kids.
LUKE: He is the most understated for sure. He doesn’t stand out because of Benny’s lyricism and Westside’s energy, but he is absolutely the glue of Griselda. I want to pay more attention to him as well when I can turn off The Plugs I Met (give me another year bro).
9. “Skinny Suge”
LUKE: I am a man of hyperboles. This is straight up one of the best beats I have ever heard. This dizzying jazz guitar lead feels like spiders crawling on you by a Christmas fireplace. This sample is from no other than Kurt Rosenwinkel, which is the weirdest new-age jazz artist to sample! I was freaking out when I heard it (check out the album The Next Step if you are interested in some incredibly catchy and warm jazz guitar standards).
GREG: Oh man, I always assume these are like dusty-ass samples from way back in the day, but this one is more on the modern side.
LUKE: I am for fucking CERTAIN this is Kurt Rosenwinkel. Dude is like Tosin Abasi’s main influence.
GREG: Whosampled doesn’t turn up anything, you should get that submitted Luke. Anyway, I think this song, while not as immediately ear catching as the rest of the album, is perhaps the most lyrically dense song here, and covers Freddie’s paranoia, stress and trauma that he’s faced with dealing drugs and the other events in his past in the streets.
LUKE: That fucking story about knowing the plot about his uncle getting murdered? Dude made me feel sick, such a heavy refrain.
GREG: RIP BIG TIME WATTS.
10. “All Glass”
LUKE: I was a bit underwhelmed with the ending here. While I love the vocals laid into the beat, the beat itself is pretty run of the mill for what we know of The Alchemist. Freddie Gibbs has great energy on this though, and he rides the beat as well as he has been throughout. But the skit and glass-breaking in the ending was pretty lame.
GREG: I agree it was an odd way to end the album, but I like that little cheesy horror organ intro as it then bubbles through the beat with a deep bass groove. Maybe it would have been better if this came after “Babies & Fools” and then end the tape with “Skinny Suge,” but it’s not like this is a misstep or anything.
LUKE: Definitely, it is still great! But with “Skinny Suge” IMMEDIATELY before, “All Glass” doesn't really hold a candle to it.
GREG: I blame the decision to end the tape on the sound of glass breaking on weed, can’t imagine how much those two went through during the making of this tape.
LUKE: Any interview with Alchemist he is like inebriated high. He is like straight up 10th grade mid-blunt circle high, I love it.
VERDICT:
LUKE: This album is fucking phenomenal. One of my favorites of the year for sure. It sounds so much more polished than Fetti, and WAY more of a vibe. This contains some of Alchemist's best production yet, and you can just tell how good of a time they were having making this. Freddie Gibbs has some of his tightest flows accompanied with some of his grimmest stories as well. They are both mature and grown as shit in their latter days in the rap game, but at the same time, they are like kids on a playground making this record. This doesn’t sound as clashing in talent as the Gibbs and Madlib projects. I honestly have not been able to put this album off since first hearing it. The features deliver, and the cohesive flow with strange lounge-like jazz guitar samples from song to song makes it cinematic. I think I would actually inch this a bit over Bandana in enjoyability for me (I know that shit is heresy, but I didn’t say Piñata, we all know that's the true GOAT).
GREG: It’s Gangsta Gibbs, the most prolifically consistent rapper of my time in my opinion. The variable almost always comes down to the production, which you also know is going to be adventurous, dynamic and fuckin’ weird from the Alchemist. I’m not sure where exactly I would place this in Gibbs’ entire discography, but he is still improving every year, making his trademark blender of styles - combining the likes of 2Pac, Bone Thugz N Harmony and Scarface - and making it sound more effortless with each release. I think Madlib has been simultaneously the best and worst thing to ever happen to Gibbs. It’s a joy hearing those two challenge each other and branch out in ways that wasn’t thought possible, but it sort of limits some people’s perspective on him. I agree with what Luke said above, in that you really get the feeling that Alchemist is working together with Gibbs to make a cohesive sound that fits like a glove. Alfredo is the most replayable rap album of the year.
LUKE: That is so relevant, and I think Freddie Gibbs needs to be brought up in the discussion of the best current-day rappers. He has too many W’s right now and has been on a streak that can rival any rapper.
BOPS: "Skinny Suge," "God Is Perfect," "Scottie Beam," "Something To Rap About," "Frank Lucas"
DUDS: "Look At Me"
