<\/p>\n
\n\tFreddie Gibbs<\/a> and The Alchemist<\/a> are playing the long game.<\/p>\n \n\tFive years after they dropped their Grammy-nominated collab album Alfredo<\/em>, the midwest rapper and the west coast producer decided to go bigger with the seque<\/a>l<\/a> by heading to Japan to give fans a short film<\/a> centered around the Yakuza underworld where they run a ramen shop that launders money for organized crime figures. They had so much making and shooting Alfredo: The Movie<\/em> that Freddie doesn\u2019t want to release an album again without attaching a short film to it.<\/p>\n \n\tGangsta Gibbs and Uncle Al stopped by Billboard\u2019s<\/em> New York office earlier this week with a big bag of food, so that we could break bread and talk about everything from the chemistry they\u2019ve built by working together to their love of independence to the both of them addressing rumors that range from the upcoming Grand Theft Auto<\/em> game to Freddie\u2019s alleged powwow<\/a> with former collaborator Benny the Butcher<\/a> to whether or not Al sent a beat pack to Future<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tIn short, we covered a ton of topics.<\/p>\n \n\tThe conversation picks up as we were having a conversation over some Sophie\u2019s cuban cuisine about the type of rap music they make. Check out our lengthy, yet entertaining conversation below.<\/p>\n \n\tFreddie Gibbs:<\/strong> To be honest, man, it just speaks to the longevity of what we do. This ain\u2019t no throwback s\u2014t. I never wanted to make this no throwback s\u2014t. It just shows you that this type of s\u2014t will never die if you do it correctly.<\/p>\n \n\t I was watching your Idea Generation<\/em> interview with Noah, when you were talking about how you had that success, and then the game started changing, because I feel like you\u2019re synonymous with that East Coast sound, and for a while that sound was like dying out. Can you talk about why that sound was able to have a resurgence?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe Alchemist:<\/strong> It did feel for a minute, not like she was dying, but like the commerce behind the whole s\u2014t was dying. At that time, if you were doing the type of s\u2014t we were doing \u2014 and you gotta give a lot of credit to Sean Price, he was one of the first dudes to kind of bridge this gap to where we\u2019re at if you were doing the type of music we\u2019re doing \u2014 people used to be like, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on down there? Y\u2019all making any money?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere wasn\u2019t a direct-to-consumer ecosystem that we all collectively have created in the last 10-plus years with merch, vinyl, concerts. Basically us and a couple of other people, I think in necessity being the mother of invention, and being like, \u201cWell, this is what we doing now, f\u2014k these labels. Let\u2019s start doing it ourselves the way we want to do it, no pressure.\u201d And we built a world that became profitable. We all started showing our houses, cars, and people started seeing that tripping out because it was like, \u201cLet me hear their music. They selling drugs? What\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWe created a legit ecosystem that was working, that came from us selling product directly to our fans, not compromising the sound, not doing something for radio, we built a world. And then, once we started making money, it was like people started paying attention. Money does some s\u2014t. They heard the music the whole time, but once it started becoming successful, and they started seeing us with all the things that these other rappers got\u2026we have real fans because we started from the ground up, so our show tickets actually sell. some of these bigger artists now, you look at their streaming numbers, you can\u2019t book a show based on that, because those aren\u2019t real fans, you gonna have an empty arena. Our s\u2014t is real.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen you argue about the best rappers and some people bring up sales, it\u2019s like, who gives a f\u2014k? Jay <\/a>or somebody might bring it up on a record, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s about the quality. It\u2019s a factor, but it doesn\u2019t hold as much weight as some might think<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> That never mattered, but people respect success. Like, back in the day, they wouldn\u2019t play wack s\u2014t in the hood. They wouldn\u2019t play MC Hammer<\/a>. As the years changed, I remember when Nelly<\/a> came out, he was dope, but he was more commercial, and they the streets playing it. They respect the money and success. And I feel like that\u2019s one thing we had to prove with our music to get respect, they see what we doing and that it\u2019s adding up.<\/p>\n \n\tIf y\u2019all was working with a label, they would\u2019ve made you put an R&B song on the album. You had to play that game.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> Oh, they would\u2019ve made us do a whole album of radio songs and we made one with out trying with the A.P. <\/a>track [\u201cEnsalada.\u201d<\/a>]<\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> It\u2019s a gift and a curse, and I thought about this recently \u2014 because we all built this world that I just described in the last 10 years by doing it our own way. F\u2014k radio, f\u2014k everybody. Now our tours are amazing, our s\u2014t is flourishing, but I kind of miss the pressure. This is the flip side. In the earlier days, my biggest records come from the era when we had to push to find a way to get in the Tunnel, to get on Flex. There was a little bit of pressure we had back then, and I don\u2019t think we ever made no bulls\u2014t to appeal to it, but thinking now, I was talking to Roc too like damn, we built this world in our comfort zone on our own, and now I want to push us. I wanna do what the A&R\u2019s do to ourselves because I feel like we\u2019re on a major scale with me and Freddie just did numbers. We playing with the big boys now.<\/p>\n \n\tI mean, you guys were nominated for a Grammy, man.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> I wanna push us now because we did it our our own, let\u2019s put that pressure on us. I\u2019m stubborn and he is too, I don\u2019t want nobody telling me what to do. Let\u2019s tell ourselves. Let\u2019s be conscious of where we are now and stop acting like we\u2019re in the underground. We\u2019re making an effect on the whole rap game, like humbly, along with a lot of other people, but I\u2019m just saying I know our value.<\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> You wasn\u2019t seeing underground motherf\u2014kers fly like a Roc Marciano. You weren\u2019t seeing that s\u2014t before. Now you\u2019re seeing the f\u2014king spoils of this s\u2014t, they respecting it, and they can\u2019t stop it. because we never conformed. We always made what we wanted to make.<\/p>\n \n\tYou guys were able to go to Japan and make a short film.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> And even more so with the whole lead by example thing. I want this sh\u2014t we\u2019re doing to inspire the next motherf\u2014kers. I realized that\u2019s our job. I came up listening to Premier and I could name a bunch of other people who were like idols to me, and I\u2019m like, damn, there\u2019s some kids looking at us now like that. So, s\u2014t, while we\u2019re in the driver\u2019s seat, we got to put that s\u2014t out, and it helps inspire the next generation.<\/p>\n \n\tHas that been why you\u2019ve been so adamant about working with the younger guys like ScHoolyboy<\/a>, Earl<\/a>, Action<\/a>, Mac Miller<\/a>, Curren$y<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> During that phase, I had already done a lot with like Mobb Deep<\/a>, Dilated Peoples, and a string of others, right? And I felt like I could ride out and just have this, but I also started meeting guys like ScHoolboy. When I met Q for the first time, he was like, \u201c1st Infantry,\u201d like, \u201cWhat you mean?\u201d He was like, \u201cI used to play your s\u2014t like crazy.\u201d That\u2019s how we connected. The same s\u2014t with Mac and some of these younger guys like Action. They were coming to me. They wanted me to do what I was doing. I was like, \u201cThis is dope.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey wanted that sound<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> Coming up, I had to cater a little. Now they\u2019re like, just do you and I got to tap in with this whole new batch of talent, which gave me a second run and enabled me to get to the point where me and Freddie could do Alfredo<\/em>. There were stages of me to get to the point where even Freddie was like, \u201cI\u2019m ready to share a record with you,\u201d because you got to think, when I did Return of the Mac<\/em> and Covert Coup<\/em>, my name wasn\u2019t attached to them like it is now. I had to earn my position for rappers to approach me about doing collaborative projects together.<\/p>\n \n\tSo, was it you that first reached out to Al like to work?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> It just happened organically.<\/p>\n \n\tWe were working early 2000s people didn\u2019t even know. We got records nobody never heard, we were tied in already.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> It was just me just hanging out and being like, \u201cHey, let\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAl, what I was getting earlier was did you tap in with the younger generation because you thought about how Muggs and Lethal kinda put you under their wings and you felt like you had to kind of pay it forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> Not yet. Looking back now that I\u2019m older, yeah, sure. It was more just happening with the next generation who were dope to me, but they also was f\u2014kin\u2019 with me.<\/p>\n \n\tYou put me onto Boldy with My 1st Chemistry Set<\/em>. I\u2019m was like, \u201cWho\u2019s this cat?\u201d And it was your name that made me listen to it and now him and Marci are probably my favorite rappers of the last 10 years or so. I was also gonna bring up something that you had tweeted recently where you said, \u201cThis tweet should be in a museum.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> Oh, about Roc? Somebody found it first.<\/p>\n \n\tThe tweet of you hitting Busta Rhymes trying to get in touch with Roc was right around the time Marcberg<\/em> was about to drop. Do you remember if you had heard some of it already?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> I had met him a while back and I forget who was putting me on him at the time, but I was hearing his sh\u2014t, and I was like I gotta link with him that\u2019s why I hit Busta. From there we started working.<\/p>\n \n\tWord, because that was that album for me when it comes to this era. There was before Marcberg<\/em> and after Marcberg<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> Absolutely, that was a big step. There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle. You go from there and I can name a bunch of projects.<\/p>\n \n\tI remember that time when the snap era was ending and the blog era was happening, and the east coast didn\u2019t really have a definitive sound.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> It started to get a little burnt out.<\/p>\n \n\tI got cool with some skaters in college and they put me onto this flourishing underground scene with DOOM<\/a> and Madlib<\/a> and all of them was doing. It was kind of like you, Freddie. I\u2019m from the hood, so I wasn\u2019t really aware of them like that. I had already knew about the Liks and all that, and who Madlib was to an extent, but\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tA.:<\/strong> You didn\u2019t know how deep it went.<\/p>\n \n\tWord, and even with DOOM, it was like, damn, this dude was with KMD and running around with MC Serch back in the day, and it blew my mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> When Lambo took me to Stones Throw, I was like, \u201cWhat the f\u2014k is this sh\u2014t? And he introduced me to Otis and he just started sending me some beats. I didn\u2019t even know how the f\u2014k I was gonna rap on them s\u2014ts.<\/p>\n \n\tTalk about \u201cThuggin’\u201d because you\u2019ve mentioned how that unlocked a chamber for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tF.G.:<\/strong> My boy Josh was like, \u201cWe gotta just figure it out,\u201d so then we just start piecing it together and recording, and it just became a snowball effect. I wasn\u2019t really hip to Madlib either, but those sessions made me a better rapper.<\/p>\n \n\tThat Jaylib tape f\u2014ked my head up. Were you up on Dilla<\/a> since you\u2019re from that area? Because that wasn\u2019t mainstream sh\u2014t.<\/strong><\/p>\n