ALFREDO

God Is Perfect

“God Is Perfect” is the hardest song on “Alfredo”. Freddie uses a Das Efx sample for the uncanny chorus of this track. Freddie touches on his personal fight “rap vs. drug dealing” and explains his decision. My main reason for falling in love with this album was the seamless transitions from track to track. The Alchemist did a wonderful job on producing this dark mysterious track. He uses simple yet hard “Boom Bap” drums, but that is all Freddie needs to create my favorite track of 2020.

Look At Me

The Alchemist samples The Moments’ “Look At Me (I’m In Love)” to create a sinister atmosphere for Freddie to flow on. “Look At Me” is a short track made even shorter because of the skits at the beginning and end. Freddie seems chilled out and doesn't really worry about bars or concepts; he just simply raps.

Something To Rap About ft. Tyler the Creator

“Something To Rap About” is the best concept for a track that I've heard for a long time. Freddie looks back at his past and views his struggles as a good thing. “God made me sell crack, so I had something to rap about”. The alchemist has a beautiful sample in the background of Freddie’s  not so beautiful/dark lyrics, “soon as I touched that crack, I let them Crackers take control of me”. The sample transitions into Tyler’s verse about how great the sample is. Tyler’s flow is interesting, I don't know if I will ever love it but it has grown on me.

Babies & Fools ft. Conway The Machine

“Babies & Fools” simply makes me cry every time i hear it. I could sit here and highlight all my favorite bars but then I would highlight the whole song. Both Freddie and Conway compliment the beat and rap off of the sample, creating a fun track to sing too. If you said “Babies & Fools” was your favorite track off this album I would certainly not blame you. In fact, this would be the first track I would recommend to anyone wanting an Introduction to Freddie Gibbs.

1985

If you don't say the opening skit word for word I never wanna talk to you, like ever. 1985 is a glorified interlude with a gorgeous electric guitar loop that compliments Freddie’s voice and tone effortlessly. The bassline is hard but groovy at the same time which I respect enormously. Freddie Gibbs’ style is one of my favorites because of his endless flow and endless metaphors. His style creates a tremendous amount of replayability because every time you come back to one of his tracks you fall in love with yet another metaphor! My favorite metaphor on the opener is his reference to the 85’ Chicago Bulls’ drug problems, “Michael Jordan, 1985, b$%#h, I travel with a cocaine circus”.

Scottie Beam ft. Rick Ross

“God Is Perfect” transitions into the very very very beautiful piano loop of “Scottie Beam”. “Scottie Beam” moves the focus from the drums to allowing Freddie’s voice to breath making this track jam-packed with bars and bars. Rick Ross comes through with a standard Rick Ross verse, nothing too crazy but nothing too bad. Ross creates my favorite part of the song and makes me sing out loud every time I hear it because of the Spiderman reference and the monstrous ad-lib "LORD"!

Frank Lucas ft. Benny The Butcher

“God Is Perfect” may be the hardest track but “Frank Lucas” is the best track off of Alfredo. Freddie switches his flows so much that he sounds like his own group. His flows are my favorite part of this song aside from the mysterious synths in the background.. Freddie’s verse makes me repeat the song at least three times before even getting to Benny’s verse. Benny the Butcher had my favorite bar of 2020 off of his album “Burden Of Proof” and he comes through on this track with a solid verse and a brash delivery.

Baby $hit

“Baby $hit” has a very eerie sample and I still can't figure out what it is, my best guess is a siren. Whatever it is, I love it more and more every time time I hear it. The drums on this track are basic boom bap with a weird snare. Nothing really stands out in this track besides the ending skit. The skit is blood curling/sinister and is the reason I skip to the next song when it begins.

Best Track on "ALFREDO"

Conclusion

"Alfredo" is the best produced album of 2021. The Alchemist makes beautiful beats with just enough space for Freddie Gibbs to rap about multiple topics, create timeless bars, and have fun. "Alfredo" is a nice chill old-school Hip-Hop album to listen to on a rainy day. Freddie doesn't take this album too serious or too superficial. It's nice to hear a rapper just have fun on an album and show off their skills.