Alfredo CD

There's a lot to admire about this first collaborative album from gruff-voiced rapper Freddie Gibbs and fast-rising beat-maker The Alchemist. For starters, the latter's drowsy, atmospheric, musically detailed and sample-rich backing tracks fit Gibbs' distinctive flow like a glove, shuffling between slow-motion haziness, jazzy goodness, vintage boom-bap beats, semi-ambient soundscapes and rougher, more contemporary-sounding rhythms. Lyrically, Gibbs rhymes are as high-quality and thoughtful as ever, with a string of verses focussed on both traditional Italian American and African American gangster culture. With Gibbs also providing interludes based around snippets of vintage gangster movies and TV documentaries, the point they're making comes through loud and clear.

Juno Recommends Hip Hop/R&B