Album Review: Freebase [EP] by 2 Chainz

Larry King was fond of saying that nothing is dead, everything is new, and 2 Chainz embodies that maxim so fully you imagine him as a Rap star painfully sculpted over two decades to take the world by ad-lib fueled, fun-as-hell storm. His meteoric rise to 21st century Rap stardom coincided so perfectly with his unlikely two-year run of mixtape dominance and the rise of “Mainstream Ratchet” that other artists in similar positions who lacked both the stamina and the sheer optimism of the College Park emcee have now since been deleted from our collective memories. And now, in between B.O.A.T.S II and B.O.A.T.S III, he comes out of nowhere to give us the most fun we’ve had on a mixtape in quite some time.

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2 Chainz is rap’s court jester of the moment, and he's requested by rappers far and wide to deliver on that talent: precise bars, quotable lyrics (“Money tall like Jordan”), and his trademark adlibs wrapped in his crude but charming persona. In his solo work, nearly every line is a result of his desire to get a laugh, and FreeBase, his recently released free EP, allows 2 Chainz to stay in character without overstretching his shtick.FreeBase remains as sonically adventurous as 2 Chainz’s previous two albums. Mike Will Made It’s lumbering stomp on “Wuda Cuda Shuda” and Young Chop’s eerie speedboat-chase music on “They Know” demonstrate why they have been go to producers of the last few years.

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2 Chainz is back with a bang. Compared to his last two overcooked albums, 2013’s ‘B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time’ and the 2012’s ‘Based on a T.R.U. Story’, ‘Freebase’ is solid southern hip hop. ”//I keep shitting on the competition, so I’m put me out a shittape//” he brags on the ….

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Ironically, after running into some trouble with the law this past week and being convicted in a drug possession case, it only made sense that 2 Chainz’ Freebase EP was already slated for a release. Since liberating T.R.U. REALigion in 2011, 2 Chainz has created, adhered to and expanded the blueprint that makes his music not only catchy, but fueled by memorable hooks, quirky ad-libs and Southern hospitality.

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