When Chief Keef launched his mixtape Almighty So in 2013, Obama was nonetheless president and the then-18-year-old Chicago MC was one thing of an emblem for road violence, viral fame, and rap’s new cacophonous younger era. The tape, whereas removed from a important darling, solidified Keef, who’d risen to fame along with his hit single “Don’t Like,” launched when he was simply 16, as a moment-defining expertise. Quick ahead greater than a decade, two presidents, and a “vibe shift” later and Keef, now 29, has begun to age gracefully into an elder statesman of the style. His newest, the long-awaited Almighty So 2, is a sophisticated and refined distillation of the sound Keef introduced into the mainstream and, particularly at this second, seems like a daring declaration of a altering of the guard.
On the unique mixtape, Keef’s adventurous ear discovered him collaborating with youthful producers, creating a mix between Chicago’s drill sound and the ethereal, melodic manufacturing later popularized by SoundCloud-era rappers like Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert, Keef’s barely youthful friends. The end result was a venture that’s brilliance is smart in hindsight; Keef arrived proper on the forefront of a sea change in rap’s sound, and he was in a position to surf the zeitgeist effortlessly.
Almighty So 2 arrives amid one other shift in rap’s trajectory, as a gaggle of established superstars reassert their dominance by successfully duking it out in public. A lot as he did initially of his profession, Keef appears like he’s main a rebel, reducing towards the grain by staying out of the information and easily sounding like himself. The album opens with classic Keef extravagance. A diced-up pattern of the classical composer Carl Orff’s recognizably epic “O Fortuna” wails over sputtering drums that, for rap followers of a sure age, instantly place you again within the peak days of the weblog period, when the marauding, infectious drum patterns popping out of Chicago made their approach to regional rap sounds linking up on-line. “Almighty” lays the groundwork for the album’s degree of depth and manages to retain a selected ethos attribute of Keef, however with a recognizably extra polished, intentional sensibility.
There’s something to be stated for the allure of early Keef being in its undercooked edges — the way in which “Macaroni Time,” from 2015, sounds form of prefer it was recorded in a bed room. Almighty So 2 isn’t jagged and stunning in the identical method Keef’s earlier work was, however there’s what seems like a thought-out recalibration within the trade-off. It’s as if Keef, who has thus far performed extra press for this venture than he’s possible performed in his entire profession, acknowledges the price of success. The much-discussed Tierra Whack function “Banded Up” sees Keef deftly discovering a pocket alongside a spellbinding double-time movement from Whack, who Keef jokingly DM’d about outrapping him on his personal tune. It’s the form of left-field collaboration that brings about contemporary concepts, one thing mainstream rap feels all out of as of late.
Chief Keef isn’t talked about usually sufficient amongst rap’s most influential producers, and on Almighty So 2, the crisp evolution of his sound brings collectively his playful and dynamic sensibility. “Jesus Skit” pokes enjoyable on the rap trade’s racial politics and seems like a Chappelle’s Present skit on the current acrimony amongst rap’s chart-toppers. Keef’s brooding synths beneath the comic Michael Blackson’s supply give the second a stability of levity and sonic texture, nearly driving house the punchline a couple of fictional document label named Fuck Y’all. The tune segues into “Jesus,” that includes Keef’s longtime collaborator Lil Gnar, the place he flows in traditional cadence and depth on traces like “The place I’m from, it will get dwell, however we don’t rehearse it” and “We aint mad a couple of bitch/EA, it’s within the recreation.” Gnar’s verse will get an added dose of reverb, as his voice ascends into the stratosphere.
Essentially the most hanging ingredient of Almighty So 2, and Chief Keef’s profession at this second, is his emotional development. Keef’s biggest ability, at the same time as he got here onto the scene at age 14, was his capacity to translate precisely what he was feeling. On the time, that meant loads of rage. Remorse doesn’t linger within the background of Keef’s extra grown-up bars, however you possibly can hear the burden of expertise — each good and dangerous. On “Consider,” Keef takes inventory of his journey to this second. With distance from his previous life, he displays candidly: “Sensible as shit, more often than not needed to be an evil child,” he raps. There’s a powerful case to be made for Keef as probably the most influential rapper of his era. All through Almighty So 2, we get each the bravado of Keef moving into that function and the popularity of the toll of success.
