Inside The Credits 029: The Alchemist
Ranking The Alchemist Beats Round 2
On August 13, 2021, Okayplayer published my ranked list of the best beats ever made by legacy Hip Hop sample sniper The Alchemist. It was a tall, nearly impossible task as he began his instrumental innovation in the 90s and had since been the producer with perhaps the most consistent output. Yet, I listened to the entirety of his catalog and narrowed the list to the required 17 by the publication. In order to do this, I did have to outline some caveats: no repeated main artists and no album could have more than one entry. In the end, I stood proud of my list as I knew I had listened to everything and let my ear lead me.
On July 11, 2024, I heard Action Bronson’s new album Johann Sebastian Bachlava the Doctor. Track 9, “Nba Leather On Nbc,” not only features The Alchemist rapping, but also features one of my favorite beats of his I’ve heard in some time. It’s a cacophony of triumphant samples that catch Bronson off the backboard like Ewing in the early 90s. It reminded me that, since I had dropped my published list, The Chemist had not let up one bit. I decided it was time to rank Alc’s best work since August 2021. I only had to cover three years this time, but it still took me about a day to listen through. From uplifting underground virtuoso’s to shifting tides with mainstream rap beef soundscapes, it’s absurd how relevant The Alchemist still is. These are his 17 best, as I hear them, from the last few years. If you disagree, as Alc spits on the Bronson track, “Before you come at me, I strike first.”
Note: There’s a snippet of an Alc x Big Sean song out that I thought would come out this past Friday (pretty fire). It didn’t. So it’ll have to be considered for the next list a few years from now!
17. “Lost Forever” by Travis Scott feat. Westside Gunn
The only reason this song isn’t ranked higher is because it is not just Alc responsible for it’s prowess. Dom Maker, James Blake, and Travis Scott himself are also credited as producers. That said, this song is definitely one of the best by a mile on the latest Travis Scott epic. To me, the album itself was quite underwhelming, but its highs propelled me into the ether. The restrained darkness Alc accomplishes here alongside chipmunky vocal samples allows for Travis to picture paint late night excursions. Then when Gunn enters over looming boom claps, Alc makes him sound like a luxurious floating phantom.
16. “Lost Times” by Schoolboy Q feat. Jozzy
Q and Alc have a storied history as The Chemist has produced standouts from Q’s catalog like “Break The Bank,” “Hoover Street,” and “My Homie.” This track from Q’s 2024 arguable opus is co-produced by Fu, thus it can’t be higher on this list. Yet, it maintains the best parts of what make Q and Alc great together. The Kiyoshi Hasegawa sample brings in equal parts slow gloomy creep and peaceful ascendency. Alchemist is the best producer for Q when he needs to be equal parts reflective and victorious.
15. “Wick Man” by Drake
I actually think this is the weakest of all the songs on Drake’s For All The Dogs Scary Hours Ep. That said, it still knocks. How Alc flips the Koen De Bruyne sample makes the song sound like it’s inside an aquarium. It is a wild juxtaposition against the opening mob boss raps from Drizzy which makes you imagine him in a vintage Italian restaurant next to a fish tank. The problem is it feels like an acting role more than reality.
14. “Stickz N Stonez” by J. Cole
This is a prime example of Alchemist’s ability to set a great rapper up flow-wise. Cole seems to ricochet off the production centered around a guitar pattern, an instrument less frequently heard in Alchemist beats. Jermaine used the canvas to mostly spit about how good of a rapper he is (not my favorite) and how no one should contest with what he offers. The beat's meditative quality becomes even more hypnotizing beneath the braggadocio, almost feeling like a reminder to Cole that if he wanted to he could just let the work speak for itself.
13. “Glorious” by Cormega & Nas
Welcome to an impeccable display of spitting by NY rap legends. While the beat doesn’t have quite as many winding transitions as others to come, the feel is what stands out here. The repeated bass piano sounds like a giant's footsteps and exemplifies the feeling of NY machismo. While Alc, at this point in his career especially, makes much more than gutter, bar-spitting, hustler music, when he goes back to his OG proficiency it’s always a welcome pulse by a master craftsman.
12. “Old Friend” by Earl Sweatshirt
This is going to be a choice that could really cause some dismay from Earl Sweatshirt fans as he and The Chemist cooked up a compelling entire album, Voir Dire in 2023. There is just something about the cosmos sounds intertwining with the descending bassline here for this quick number from Earl’s Sick! that continues to grab me. There’s an urgency that this beat procures from Earl that is just undeniable.
11. “Ostertag” by Westside Gunn & Stove God Cooks
Funny enough, Westside Gunn only provides ad libs on this interlude, but Stove God puts on a pure bar display for the record books. “Don't make me send my dawg through there in a UCONN mask, Husky n***a hangin' out the two door Benz, Brick in my daughter newborn bag, When they was scared to get it through the mail, man, I went Utah Jazz,” is how he opens the track. Over plunking piano keys leading into string laden transitions that evoke black and white film nights at the Copacabana, Stove God straight up cooks. Alc’s true superpower lies in percussion riddled beats, but when one of these drumless sensations hits a pocket like this you can’t help but salute.
10. “Royal Hand” by The Alchemist, Oh No, & Gangrene
This is up there as one of the best ever brooding beats from The Alchemist. The bassline sounds like Omar from The Wire walking down the block with his shotgun, like Gus Fring staring down a cartel member on his last breath. When you add the shaky string sample in the background mixed with film clips, you suddenly envision Don Draper in a dark theater by himself lighting up a lucky strike plotting his next move.
9. ‘Thowy’s Revenge” by Benny The Butcher
“This shit really that simple, ain’t nobody fuckin’ with me and Uncle Al,” proclaims the Butcher at the top of my favorite song of his. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Benny The Butcher enthusiast. Yet, there’s something about the pocket Alc gives him here that lights up his flow and gives his tone the perfect cadence. The Milan Pilar trumpet sample is the key ingredient as it makes Benny dance on the beat like Barishnikov as Apollo for the NYC ballet.
8. “shut the fuck up talking to me” by Zach Fox
This beat is a prime example of Alchemist expertly slowing a sample down and giving a rapper the proper breathing room to stunt. Koyma Hondo’s “Boncana Maïga” is a chaotic and driving West African funk/jazz number which, in its original version, makes you feel like you’re on a sweaty club dance floor in 1970s Lagos. Alc brings that vivacity of the original to Fox, but slows the tempo and moves it more towards a lounge in a 70s blaxploitation film. The head knocking result lifts Fox into some of his most chest out bars ever like “SHIT CAN GET UGLY AS FUCK LIKE ED SHEERAN.”
7. “Porsches In Spanish” by Larry June & The Alchemist
The reason this is the best song and best beat on Larry June and The Alchemist’s collaborative album The Great Escape, is that it perfectly captures June’s introspective aesthetic. He opens the song, due to this congruence, with a bar inviting you into the world of his mind and vision. “You don't know the feelin' when you ridin' on that road. With them oowops in the door panel, just tryna make it home,” he eloquently spits. This is also an Alchemist masterclass in fusing together multiple parts of the same song for a sample collage. When you listen to the full original, “Let Me Try” by Crosstown Express, you can hear how the moments he used pop out as the most sticky. The Chemist extrapolated the song to its core strength like a wizard getting the most out of his wand.
6. “Zig Zag Zig” by Roc Marciano & The Alchemist
Alc brought Roc Marcy straight to the church pugh with this one. As the song plays you can see the underground legend looking up at Da Vinci painted ceilings draped in multiple gold chains, a silk Versace shirt, and shimmery Cartier frames. Roc prays for the outcome of his misdeeds to result in clarity and a sinless future, yet for now he must rumble in the belly of the underworld. The cinematic piano slide collides with Marciano’s rasp like a splash of cranberry atop crown royal on ice.
5. “Be Realistic” by MIKE, Wiki, & The Alchemist
The way the cello holds the center of the beat here makes this such a unique Alchemist composition. The tambourine taps hold the track together like the seasoning on a plate, but the languid string flourishes feel like the protein and the sauce combined. Wiki is the only one who eats lyrically here, even as it’s a part of his collab album with MIKE. To me it is unfathomable that the latter didn’t want to touch this beat. That said, it does definitely suit Wiki’s gutter style and tone better, providing melancholy beauty beneath his gravely delivery.
4. “meet the grahams” by Kendrick Lamar
The element of surprise by Alchemist in this beat made Kendrick's intrinsic dissection of Drake’s psyche and familial relationships that much more diabolical. This is all because Alchemist, once again, knows how to take a single song and section out the most dynamic parts. The beginning of Timothy Carpenter & Triunity’s “I Want To Make It” is the same beginning section used in “meet the grahams.” Yet, Alchemist slightly speeds up the choppy jubilant piano so it feels like Kendrick may be preparing to stunt on Drake again with his “euphoria” follow up. However, then the beat switches to a part of the sampled song pulled from thirty-ish seconds in, which has sparse single piano notes evoking a cartoon villain rubbing their hands together mischievously. This back and forth switch happens a few more times, and everytime it occurs it ups the ante of Kendrick’s vitriol.
3. “Blackest In The Room” by Freddie Gibbs
An all time Alchemist beat switch had to make the top three. The beginning beat here is pretty standard Alchemist fare, but when the second one comes in you realize that the first one was the perfect setup. Of all the crazy beats on Gibbs and Alchemist’s Alfredo this double whammy stands up to each and every one. It is also easily the best beat on Gibbs’ solo multi-producer follow-up, $oul $old $eparately, and propels the Gary, Indiana bred emcee to lyrically moonwalk like his fellow hometown native for one of his greatest verses.
2. “NBA LEATHER ON NBC” by Action Bronson & The Alchemist
Whoever works at Whosampled isn’t working fast enough to find the main sample used in this song. This is frustrating. Regardless, the beat here, as I stated in the intro, is unreal. As much as purists love that tightly executed murky core Alchemist sound, I have always loved how much Bronson seems to stretch The Chemist’s boundaries. Are there twisting and turning fusions here? No. Does it exemplify absolute instrumental proficiency and set a standard for how one should sample? Not quite. Does it sound electrifying in its simplistic delivery and fit the vocalist it’s meant for like a glove? Absofuckinglutely.
1. “Hot Water Tank” by Boldy James, The Alchemist, & ICECOLDBISHOP
I was so perplexed by which beat to pick from Alc and Boldy’s Bo Jackson follow-up Super Tecmo Bo for this list that I had to ask my girlfriend to choose between two for me. Her answer basically locked in this song in for the top spot immediately. When deciding between this and “No Laughing Matter,” she said that while both were great, the latter reminded her of other people’s songs, implying that this one felt distinctly original. From her, not the biggest rap instrumental enthusiast I’ve ever met, that’s as high praise as one could receive.
I’ve never been more floored by a whistle in a beat. While the sound has been damn near overused in trap beats in semi-recent history, the luring quality this one adds to Alc’s chamber of sound transports you straight to a Western shootout. Rather than being amidst a flurry of bullets and popping sounds, the song sits in the moment right when the gunsmoke lifts in the air above a massacre as cowboy Boldy and his right hand ICECOLDBISHOP stand proudly surveilling the remains of the fury they’ve spewed. But just when you think you’ve heard it all, a guitar strum turned violin stroke turned vocal sample emerges, representing the barkeep Alchemist strutting out of the saloon with a tray of whiskeys to celebrate.
Inside The Credits 029: The Alchemist- The Playlists