The first time Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist connected was on 2011’s Covert Coup. The mixtape was a Curren$y and Alchemist collaboration, but the track “Scottie Pippens” was entirely about Gangsta Gibbs. It was a stand-out moment in the landscape of mid-2010s underground hip-hop, an era defined by new voices breaking through the mixtape sites like DatPiff, Livemixtapes and Hotnewhiphop. When Gibbs and Spitta hinted at a collaborative project with Alchemist on production, social media went into a frenzy.
When the release date was scheduled, it exploded. An underground dream was coming true. Fetti – which is also the title of a 2013 track from the trio – comes in at a slim 24 minutes and features just nine tracks. To reference an old Gibbs mixtape, it’s all killer no filler. From the moment Curren$y opens the album on “Location Remote” to Gibbs closing line on “Bundy & Sincere,” the pair try their absolute damndest to slap the listener in the mouth.
Neither take a verse off, and their contrasting styles point to what makes the project so interesting. Curren$y’s New Orleans drawl and stoned-out-of-his-mind flows at times elongate his rhyme patterns like he’s playing with silly putty, while Gibbs can’t help himself from adding extra words where they just shouldn’t be able to fit. The closing track, the aforementioned “Bundy & Sincere,” is the standout of the project when it comes to songs, but the real moments to note are Gibbs’ punch lines.
There were a lot of hype and dreams to live up to on ‘Fetti’. Consider it a job well done.
Score: 💰💰💰💰/5
