Yes, the 6th studio LP from Indiana emcee Freddie Gibbs has finally arrived. Blowing up initially over 2 decades ago with his debut mixtape Full Metal Jackit, he would sign to Interscope Records for a brief period of time until he left without dropping an album with them. This was made up for with the mixtapes The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs & Str8 Killa No Filla, which would catch the attention of Jeezy & land Freddie a contract with CTE World in 2011. However, Gibbs eventually left CTE the following year after releasing the tapes Cold Day in Hell & B.F.K. (BabyFace Killa). In 2013, he decided to form his own label E$GN Records & finally dropped the full-length album E.$.G.N. (Evil $eeds Grow Naturally). He & iconic Oxnard producer Madlib would drop their MadGibbs debut Piñata the year after that, which is EASILY one of the greatest hip hop albums of the previous decade. Gibbs continued to grow his profile after that with Shadow of a Doubt, You Only Live 2wice, Freddie & the Curren$y collab EP Fetti & who can forget MadGibbs’ sophomore effort Bandana or Alfredo produced by The Alchemist? $oul $old $eparately made for a valiant major label debut under Warner Records & You Only Die 1nce returned to his independent hustle, recapturing the magic ofAlfredo for a sequel of it’s own.
“1995” opens with a jazzy, drumless 2-parter picking up exactly where “1985” left off talking about being ok regardless of haters & bitches snaking whereas “Mar-a-Lago” swaps out the drumless elements in favor of boom bap making it clear that the feds ain’t gettin’ nothing after tryna hit his shit. “Lemon Pepper Steppers” turns the jazz influences up a bit talking about people tryna block his blessings prior to the silky “Ensalada” pleading to get away from this place he’s in.
Gibbs advises for all these detectives who’ve been pissing him off to get a job at the FBI during “Empanadas” stripping the drums once again just before “Skinny Suge II” talks about being the last don & looking to body every last person whenever he’s in the middle of a job. “Feeling” featuring Larry June chops up a soul sample for both of them to keep it trill leading into “I Still Love H.E.R.” homaging the テリヤキ・ボーイズ single of the same name featuring & produced by Ye or the Nazi formerly known as Kanye West.
“Shangri La” soulfully airs his grievances towards a woman that he deems to be “sneaky”making better use of an unused verse recorded during the Vultures sessions when ¥$ was still together at the beginning while “Gas Station Sushi” addresses his falling out with Curren$y not too long after Fetti was released. I found both the “Pee on city girls like P. Diddy” line & the DJ Akademiks diss not even a minute into “Lavish Habits” to be pretty funny while “Gold Feet” featuring J.I.D. finds the pair getting together talking about feeling great.
The song “Jean Claude” gets the final 7 & a half minutes of Alfredo II started with a drumless jazz rap track comparing life to the 1988 martial arts film Bloodsport & recommending to take the role of Frank Dux in that situation as a way of survival while “1,000 Mountains” closes the album with 1 last boom bap cut arguing that the only person who he feels can outrap him is André 3000, taking it a step further by contemplating taking a flute & hiding out similarly to what the Prince of hip hop did.
Don’t want to take away from the highlights $oul $old $eparately & You Only Die 1nce both have even if I lean more $oul $old $eparately, but Freddie Gibbs reunites with one of my top 10 producers of all-time for a successor to make an Alfredo successor that takes it back to what made that original LP the most beloved solo effort in the E$GN Records founder’s discography as he prepares for his next project fully produced by KAYTRANADA.
Score: 9/10