Following five years after the original volume,
the Alchemist's Rapper's Best Friend, Vol. 2 features instrumental versions of tracks the producer cut for the likes of
Mobb Deep,
Nas, and
Raekwon. These banging productions carry as much weight as
the Alchemist name with huge drums and sub-woofer stimulating bass rolling like thunder. With half the tracks offering that hypnotic midnight soul and the rest featuring that nocturnal creepiness with a gangster punch, the two distinct styles of the beatmaker are well represented, and mixed together seamlessly with the man himself handling the segues and sequencing. It's that final touch that makes this much more than the title implies, and beatheads will get plenty of headphone mileage out of the set, but any aspiring MC who wants to leave an audience black and blue has an excellent shot with this ammunition. Just keep your finger out of your proverbial nose, kid and let
the Alchemist do the rest. ~ David Jeffries