Album Highlight: This Things Of Ours
By The Alchemist
Featuring, Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blue, Boldy James, Sideshow, Maxo, Pink Siifu
This 2021 album from The Alchemist includes a loaded list of quality rappers each bringing their own signature style to form an amazing project from start to finish.
The album starts with a highly anticipated collaboration on “Nobles” between Earl Sweatshirt, who frequently works with Alchemist and his long-time friend, rapper, producer and former professional skateboarder Navy Blue.
The chemistry between these 2 rappers always flourishes on their tracks together, but this song is something else entirely. The two go bar for bar over heavenly production from the Alchemist, doing what they do best, dropping introspective lyrics about overcoming their own respective struggles.
Navy Blue ends the song and summarises perfectly by saying: “Hard work callous the palms, that isn’t wrong. Soul battered and grown, sadness is gone.”
The next track on the project features two rappers who which might seem unlikely to collaborate at first and have not featured together on anything after this track dropped. Sideshow and Boldy James both bring their A-game in their own right over a relaxing guitar loop provided by The Alchemist.
Sideshow delivers bars like:
“You got killers nigga I’m a killer. You need a gun I need a 3D Printer”
&
“I run the money East quick like an Ethi' sprinter”.
Bringing more of an emotional reasoning for why he does, what he does. Sideshow references his friend doing 10 years eating TV dinners and talking on the phone daily with him. Afterwards Boldy brings a crazy verse with a beautiful flow and nice rhyme scheme adhering to his signature drug dealer lifestyle while referencing different luxury brands all throughout the verse.
“Holy Hell” features maybe the two least known, but equally great artists, Maxo and Pink Siifu. Alchemist once again providing a beautiful soothing beat for them to perform on. The style of both of these performers not only perfectly match each other, but also the supporting track, dropping elaborate, deeply emotional and motivational lyrics.
Maxo personally takes the cake for me with lines like:
“Weeping from the pain but never show, I’m tryna stay strong.
Shawty tell me “Learn to let it go”, I’m tryna hang on.
Scared of all the spaces I don’t know, to keep it honest. Devil playing tryna barter with my soul I never know these days, just let me know.”
If you have never heard of either of these artists, please give both of them a listen when you get the chance.
The last song on the project, “Loose change” is a solo performance from Earl over a trumpet loop with crashing drums. Earl’s rapping takes center stage, while rapping about his past and upbringing.
Lyrics like: “I had a bad bout with grief and I tossed a match on it.
Kerosene, burned the ring down to ashes”
These bars provide insight about his father’s passing and how he dealt with it. At the end of the verse he plays with his delivery just before the crashing drums end the bar, leading into a catchy loose change themed chorus to end the track.
This tape contains amazing world building instrumentals from Al, complemented by an A-game pen by all the rappers. In 10 minutes and 21 seconds you are taken on a journey where struggles are discussed, emotios are expressed and grief is poetically described.
It's always a joy coming back to this short album.
Eventhough you know what to expect after a few listens, it never grows old.
A timeless classic.
-III.