{"id":260278,"date":"2025-09-28T03:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T03:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260278\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T03:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T03:02:13","slug":"freddie-gibbs-the-alchemist-was-nonstop-raps-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/260278\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist Was Nonstop Raps in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point, Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist have spoiled us rotten, but we\u2019re not complaining. Their first project together, Alfredo, was a 35-minute masterpiece with no skips, something that likely helped a few of us hold onto our sanity when it released in 2020, amidst what seemed to be the end of the world. Without exaggeration, it\u2019s one of those records that\u2019s so good it almost doesn\u2019t even warrant a sequel, because how could you top that?<\/p>\n

Regardless, the pair returned in July with Alfredo 2, a follow-up that can match track by track with the original and, over time, may even prove to be the better record.<\/p>\n

\u201cAyo Freddie, I might be biased, but I think Alfredo 2 is the best shit that came out this year<\/a>,\u201d The Alchemist said.<\/p>\n

Judging from the energy in the room Friday night, the fans at South Side Ballroom<\/a> certainly agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAyo, I might be biased, but I don\u2019t give a fuck about no other shit,\u201d Gibbs responded.<\/p>\n

The first Alfredo has been out for five years now, but the tracks are still so fresh that it barely feels like any time has passed at all. So far, Alfredo 2 feels the same, if not better; for every \u201cScottie Beam\u201d and \u201cBaby Shit,\u201d there\u2019s \u201cEnsalada\u201d and \u201cMar-A-Lago\u201d to match. At the end of the day, Gibbs\u2019 cutthroat lyricism and The Alchemist\u2019s bottomless bag of beats is a killer combo that\u2019ll be damn hard to match going forward.<\/p>\n

The bill had a nicely varied lineup, making it a can\u2019t-miss night that covered multiple genres. Of course, there was Gibbs and Mavi for hip-hop fans, but also Sven Wunder, an accomplished composer\u2019s exploratory passion project, and Jalen Ngonda, an old-soul singer who\u2019s blown up over the last two years. The variety makes sense given The Alchemist\u2019s diverse palette and the love Gibbs has shown to artists in other genres like Clairo.<\/p>\n

\"ManSven Wunder opened for Gibbs and Alc.<\/p>\n

Sven Wunder kicked off the night with a vibrant, groovy instrumental set. He manned two keyboards while Josefin Runsteen murdered a four-piece drumset and vocalized along. The setup was simple on paper, but the pair quickly cemented themselves on stage and shook everyone loose for the following acts.<\/p>\n

Following a career as an accomplished jazz musician, Swedish composer Joel Danell began creating music under the Sven Wunder moniker in 2019 to delve deeper into Eastern European music. His tracks are so audibly gorgeous they could easily fit into a Tarantino flick, but vibrant and busy enough not to get skipped when they come up on shuffle.<\/p>\n

\"ManMavi is hip-hop\u2019s best kept secret.<\/p>\n

Next up was Mavi, a rapper from North Carolina who possesses an impenetrable aura of positivity. Mavi\u2019s voice carries the same youthful, upbeat energy of a kid excitedly waiting to open presents on Christmas day, which makes his darker, self-reflective lyrics hit that much harder.<\/p>\n

He started a \u201cFuck ICE\u201d chant during the second-to-last song, and the audience proudly joined in. He wrapped the set with \u201cSelf Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old artist broke through in 2019 with his album Let the Sun Talk, which introduced fans to his deeply personal bars on songs like \u201cSelf Love\u201d and his overall versatility within a track on \u201cEye\/I and I\/Nation,\u201d where he tackles three uniquely different flows over the same song. His last two albums, Laughing so Hard, it Hurts and Shadowbox, have shown Mavi progressing in the best way possible. He\u2019s leaned into the more melancholic, expressive side of hip-hop instead of just picking a spacy, washed-out beat and rapping his ass off without saying anything substantial, like a spitter of his caliber probably could.<\/p>\n

\"ManJalen Ngonda also joined Gibbs and Alc on the Alfredo: Tour.<\/p>\n

Ngonda came on next and sent everyone into a frenzy with his sky-high voice. Alongside a three-piece band, the D.C.-born Daptone singer went into the lively \u201cThat\u2019s All I Wanted From You,\u201d then eased into \u201cSo Glad I Found You,\u201d a slower love song.<\/p>\n

Much like Thee Sacred Souls or Black Pumas, Ngonda sounds like he got in a cab sometime in the \u201870s and was magically transported to the future with that same old gold sound. His voice can go from serene to showstopping in an instant, and the instrumentation backing him up is divine.<\/p>\n

Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist Are Alfredo<\/p>\n

The Alchemist took the stage to an onslaught of applause, then Gibbs ran out in a blue gi to perform \u201c1985,\u201d followed by \u201cGod is Perfect\u201d and \u201cScottie Beam,\u201d before diving into Alfredo 2 with \u201c1995.\u201d The crowd could almost be heard chanting over Gibbs during \u201cMar-A-Lago,\u201d and he paused \u201cLemon Pepper Steppers\u201d to encourage some rowdy fans who formed a moshpit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s crazy, y\u2019all doing that rock and roll shit, that\u2019s beautiful,\u201d he said afterwards. \u201cDo it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbs is truly a rapper\u2019s rapper; his powerful, gruff voice carries a self-assured swagger, and he delivers punchlines like a postal worker gunning for a raise. He can rip multiple flows over seemingly any kind of beat, from riding the laid-back groove on \u201cNightrider\u201d with Tom Misch and Yusseff Dayes, to a complete tempo-change mid-song on \u201cFake Names\u201d off Pi\u00f1ata, or his relentless showing on \u201cTill\u2019 The Angels Come,\u201d one of his earlier tracks with The Alchemist on Domo Genesis\u2019 No Idols. The 43-year-old MC from Gary, Indiana, has a deep discography and a wealth of feature verses, and there aren\u2019t many skips.<\/p>\n

Fans matched bar for bar with Gibbs as he rapped \u201cBaby Shit\u201d a cappella, then joined right in with the first of many \u201cFuck police\u201d chants of the night.<\/p>\n

After nailing a seamless transition from \u201cLook At Me\u201d into \u201cFeeling,\u201d Gibbs sat back as The Alchemist built a beat live, starting with a sloshy hi-hat, snare and bass. \u201cWe need a bassline, right?\u201d he asks as he adds in low, DOOM-esque horns and some blaring alarms. Next, he mixed in cuts from his 1st Infantry\u2019s \u201cTick Tock\u201d and \u201cWe Gonna Make It\u201d from Jadakiss and Styles P before wrapping with his iconic \u201cOur boy Al, everybody\u2019s pal\u201d tag.<\/p>\n

It gets harder by the year to keep a tally on the number of artists The Alchemist has collaborated with. He\u2019s basically the Charles Xavier of the rap game, slowly recruiting new members and using his otherworldly penchant for production to bring out the best of each one of his gifted youngsters. This year alone, he\u2019s dropped Life is Beautiful with Larry June and 2 Chainz, produced Erykah Badu\u2019s grand return with Abi & Alan<\/a> and is gearing up to release the first Mobb Deep album in more than 10 years.<\/p>\n

The seasoned vet\u2019s experience reflects in the way he works a crowd. He bobbed up and down fervently as he queued up clips and yelled along with each track to hype the audience up. Of course, he had to give Texas some shit, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just see where y\u2019all are at real quick,\u201d he says before singing: \u201cThe stars at night are big and bright,\u201d and of course, everyone in South Side Ballroom clapped, stomped and happily finished the verse. Gibbs followed suit and asked about the Cowboys, but was instantly met with a bunch of boos.<\/p>\n

While the setlist mainly consisted of tracks from the pair\u2019s two joint albums, Gibbs also sprinkled in some older tracks like \u201cCrime Pays\u201d and \u201cGang Signs\u201d to test his fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to fuck y\u2019all up with the old shit, but y\u2019all motherfuckers know the words,\u201d Gibbs said after the crowd rapped \u201cCrime Pays\u201d word for word.<\/p>\n

Gibbs took another breather as The Alchemist took the mic to rap his verse from \u201cFerraris in the Rain,\u201d a song from his solo album, The Genuine Articulate. Gibbs joined in to rap his verse from \u201cFerraris in the Rain Part 2,\u201d and the two performed side-by-side for the rest of the track.<\/p>\n

While an Alfredo 3 might be too much to ask for, what we do know is that Gibbs and The Alchemist are on a generational run and have already given us enough classic music, both individually and as a duo, to earn their spot on any hip-hop head\u2019s playlist. Anything else from here is just gravy.<\/p>\n

See more photos from Friday\u2019s show:<\/p>\n

\"ManAlan The Chemist.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs came out wearing a custom-made karate gi.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs, surveying the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs liked that his fans started mosh pits.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs also did songs from his other albums.<\/p>\n

\"ManGangsta Gibbs is in the zone.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs interacting with his fans, who rapped every word.<\/p>\n

\"ManGibbs and Alchemist gotta give us Alfredo 3 sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this point, Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist have spoiled us rotten, but we\u2019re not complaining. Their first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":260279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14839,12079,2136,358,132131,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-260278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-hip-hop","11":"tag-nightlife","12":"tag-photos","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-touring-artists","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}