[GIBBS] I always wanted my own action figure and you
know this album was just you know the best time to make it.
[ALCHEMIST] They kind of messed my hair lined up,
but I'm gonna let them live man.
[GIBBS] Yeah.
[ALCHEMIST] I got at least a little... it kind of that's
they pushed me back a little. That's a bad barber job.
[GIBBS] That's why I'm bald now.
They've been pushing me back man for 30 years.
[Laughter]
I'm about to grow my head back though.
[ALCHEMIST] Can you do that? Just anytime just grow hair back?
[GIBBS] Yeah, yeah, yea.
[ALCHEMIST] Oh.
[GIBBS] I'm bald by choice not bald by force. Remember that. I want America to know that.
[CARMICHAEL] In hip-hop collaboration has always
been the wave. And nothing shifts the culture
like the relationship between artist and producer.
In season two of "The Formula," we're deciphering the cipher
and tracking what happens when kindred spirits collab and produce a body
of work deep enough to drown out the noise.
No two figures in rap have done more over
the last decade to elevate joint albums than The Alchemist and Freddie Gibbs.
Together on "Alfredo," they took the recipe all the way to the
Grammys without sacrificing a shred of street cred
but even for two pros, the process wasn't always painless
as the hypnotic loop from The Alchemist became the emotional anchor
for Gibbs gangster opus.
[ALCHEMIST] When you're like one producer working with one artist,
it's kind of like a cheat code.
You know Freddie and Madlib did "Bandana."
They did "Piñata" before that. Two legendary albums.
You know so I won't front-- in the beginning I was nervous.
Madlib's production is so dense, and it has so much personality
so at first, I was like, "Damn, how am I gonna do this?", you know.
But it was like after a while I thought about it was like, "I can just do the best me."
[GIBBS] It ain't, it ain't nobody like Alchemist.
S*** build up to a climax, you know what I mean.
you know what I mean in his beats.
I could see the s*** like you know like a movie.
[ALCHEMIST] I think in the beginning he... you were watching
"The Black Godfather" right?
[GIBBS] Yeah.
I don't hear songs I see them.
That's why I like whatever I'm like visually intaking
during the time I'm making an album, you know what I mean.
I'm kind of like taking little tidbits and things like that.
[ALCHEMIST] Just as a rough vibe.
[GIBBS] Yeah a lot of black exploitation s*** I was looking at.
And a lot of mixed in with some um you know some Italian
movies and then I was watching Michael Jordan "Last Dance" a lot.
I just like kind of just blended that all into what I wanted it to be.
I wanted to be like some mafia-type s***.
[ALCHEMIST] Something you would have got from somebody like Scarface,
you know what I mean like the visuals... like it... this one's real
cinematic because the scenes just move.
♪ "Skinny Suge" ♪
♪ Go to sleep, like ♪
♪ Guitar Music ♪
♪ See the Grim Reaper and the n**** said, ♪
♪ you know what I'm sayin' ♪
♪ yeah yeah...yeah ♪
♪ like every night I dreamed a n**** trying ♪
♪ to murder me ♪
♪ Visions of my loved ones dialin' 9-1-1, emergency ♪
♪ 'Cause I decked a n**** and took his work, man, I made it work for me ♪
♪ If he come back and kill me, I know this s*** was business, man, ♪
♪ I never take it personally ♪♪
[ALCHEMIST] Every...every beat you make kinda has to me like
a time of day or or a color.
To me this was like dawn but it was still dark. So it was more
like a purple, like a dark purple. It was like late night going into early morning.
I think I did the drums first
♪ Electric Guitar Music ♪
[ALCHEMIST] The drums. They...They'll fade in. With an extra kick and a couple of little spices but...
♪ Electric Guitar and Drum Music ♪
[ALCHEMIST] Faded them up.
♪ Electric Guitar and Drum Music ♪
[ALCHEMIST] I used to like that when Q-Tip used to do it a lot.
He used to do a lot of fading in and out on A Tribe Called Quest albums. S*** you know.
I always think about that.
Then the other elements in it are real light. Like there's a bass line that comes in
♪ Guitar, Drums and Bass Music ♪
[ALCHEMIST] It's in already but you can't hear if you listen
♪ Drums and Bass Music ♪
[ALCHEMIST] It's just extra bass to to accent what was going on in the loop.
And then there's like... there's these voices.
♪ Background Vocals ♪
[ALCHEMIST] Which are just extra spices... little things just to accent what was going on.
Add some delay on it.
There's a little percussion that comes in and out and that's it.
It was a simple beat yeah.
I just felt like some of it was understated in a way that
made room for him to just paint the picture.
[GIBBS] I don't know. That's a real haunting kind of song you know what I'm saying.
So you know it kind of like makes you want to turn a dark corner.
This is the tone and the feel of the beat
Can't really tell no happy story on that you know.
♪ Rap. How can a n**** cope with that? ♪
♪ Man, my uncle died off a overdose ♪
♪ And the f***** up part about that is I know who supplied the n**** that sold it ♪
♪ Put a pistol to my head. I was way too scared, drunk off emotions ♪
♪ I'm drinkin' and takin' these drugs 'cause I can't numb the pain with smokin' ♪
♪ Loner but I hate to be lonely ♪♪
[GIBBS] Personally, it's hard for me to listen to it. Definitely.
Especially in a room full of people.
But...you know it's real though.
♪ Had powder on my table, the label called for they offer back ♪
♪ Harry on my line. I ain't got his bread. I can't call him back ♪
♪ Plus I got a show, the promoters ain't got the dough for that ♪
♪ These losses set me back, man, I'm literally sellin' dope to rap ♪♪
[ALCHEMIST] Phew... it's rare when you get back vocals
thats it's like match exactly what you thought for the beat.
[GIBBS] I don't know I just feel like I just wasn't getting the respect that I deserved.
Like from a lyrical standpoint in the rap game.
[ALCHEMIST] We all know how good he is but it's like
it's... I love that he still felt that way
and then watching a Michael Jordan documentary isn't gonna hurt either.
[CARMICHAEL] So the the title. Can we talk about the title of the song a little bit?
I just respect Suge Knight you know what I'm saying.
I don't think he did everything correctly
but uh you know like I said I respect him for the you know
the good things he did.
Even for some of the bad things he did.
So he blazed trails.
you know I'm saying for a lot of uh Black record labels you know.
Everybody get everybody and their momma got a record label
now, and I think you know it's because of guys like you know Suge Knight.
♪ Skinny black n****, rich off rap, sweat on my own back ♪
♪ N**** ain't show me how to cook, had to fuck up my own batch ♪
♪ Dumb high, Marty McFly ♪
♪ Put down the crack, bet on myself ♪
♪ Like I went back to the future with a rap almanac ♪
♪ Had powder on my ♪♪
[GIBBS] The beats on the album let me be so free man.
I was rapping so good I wasn't even worried about structure.
I don't even think I wrote like a hook. It wasn't nothing pretty about this s***.
That's why you know what I'm saying when we dressed
This s*** up put a bow tie on and took it to the Grammys you know what I mean.
That was that that's amazing. That just showed you know
what I mean like you know this real rap s*** ain't dead.
So you know you could do what you want to do
[CARMICHAEL] Yeah.
[GIBBS] And still be you know put up there at the top.
♪ If I fall off or get locked up she might just f*** on the homies ♪
♪ Most n***** die over love for a b**** or havin' trust in they homies ♪
♪ A skinny black n**** ♪♪
[GIBBS] Next one, I want to go to Hawaii. We record the whole thing in Hawaii.
We could do that.
[CARMICHAEL] No Doubt.
[Laughter]
[ALCHEMIST] Hawaii.
[GIBBS] I'm gonna fly. I'm gonna bring in 20 strippers.
I need it for my mind, my mindset for the next album.
I got my mind gotta be right.