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Alfredo was lightning in a bottle. Two artists whose respective talents converged into a perfect marriage. Behind the boards, we have The Alchemist. Known for his dreamy soul loops, and a knack for picking some seriously ear-grabbing samples. His hands have been responsible for some of the most beloved and influential hip hop music of the last 20 years. Behind the mic: Gary, Indiana’s very own Freddie Gibbs, whose deep rasp and buttery smooth flows have made him a bit of a rap household name in recent years. He’s perhaps most acclaimed for his collaborations with Madlib on ‘Pinata’ and ‘Bandana’, though he has been incredibly consistent over the last 10 or so years. The original in this franchise saw these two crafting some of the classiest, most vintage-sounding hip hop music of this decade. An album that has perhaps been granted more fondness as we’ve moved further away from the first pandemic year (it’s still going by the way), fans of this team-up have been eagerly anticipating a sequel. It comes to us in the form of a slightly longer tracklist, with less of an Italian mob crime aesthetic, and more of a Yakuza crime group kind of deal. This is enforced by the numerous Japanese vocal samples popping up across the project (as well as the ramen on the cover, duh).
Perhaps not as versatile sound-wise as the original, it certainly doesn’t slack on the production either. The more uniform beat selection allows for a decidedly cohesive listen, and Freddie doesn’t slack whatsoever. In fact, I would argue his rapping is just as comprehensive on the sequel, if not more. Right from the jump, Gibbs lets loose on his rivals on ‘1995’, questioning their talents and proving his own. His bars are complimented by gritty guitar shredding and resonant bass, it feels like a sonic callback to standout moments like ‘Something To Rap About’ from the original. The dusty production continues onto ‘Mar-a-Lago’, and the shots fly past at an even greater velocity. A recent feud with Benny The Butcher seems to be fueling a lot of the vinegar Gibbs is pouring into these verses. As unfortunate as a rivalry like this is, it makes for great listening.
Much of Alfredo 2 feels like a victory lap for Freddie. At the top of his game, a feeling of invincibility fully bleeds into this album. This is a record chock-full of lyrical highlights like “I’m still gon’ squeeze Akademiks titties, that fat bastard”, courtesy of ‘Lavish Habits’. JID delivers some of the best wordplay on the project by way of ‘Gold Feet’, “Jeans through the seams, tailor-made, it’s hard to fabricate”. Between all the braggadocio and suave confidence though, there’s a sense that Gibbs still isn’t quite happy with his success. He still feels trapped by past traumas, as detailed on the piano-laden ‘Ensalada’ featuring Anderson. Paak. He notes his struggles to keep himself out of the dope game on ‘I Still Love H.E.R’, which has to be a reference to Common’s classic ‘I Used To Love H.E.R’, right? Freddie’s honesty about his demons on several tracks here takes this from being just another set of grandiose coke raps, to a far more grounded, multi-faceted project. ‘Gas Station Sushi’ reinforces ideas of having to ride solo, having no help from the outside world. “White supremacy been killin’ ni**as, but the truth is we ain’t got no love for us”. It’s a surprisingly unified point of view from Freddie, given his usual subscription to a me-versus-them mentality.
The closer ‘A Thousand Mountains’ has Gibbs yearning for peace, “I should go get me a flute and just disappear in the mountains”, the 3 Stacks reference not a mere jab, but simply a target destination. It highlights an oxymoron about Freddie Gibbs as an artist. His win-at-all-costs mindset prevents him from rejecting a grittier lifestyle completely. He seems aware that he’ll always be battling with himself, as well as his foes. He may be winning right now, but it hasn’t come without cost. He’s increasingly found himself with bounties on his head, and though he may have survived, he hasn’t forgotten any of it.
Dan Will Review 