Alfredo 2 (2025)

Alfredo 2 is the second collaborative studio album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs and American hip-hop producer the Alchemist. It was released on July 25, 2025, through Gibbs's own record label ESGN Records, as well as ALC Records, being distributed by Virgin Music Group. The album serves as a sequel to Gibbs and the Alchemist's 2020 Grammy-nominated album Alfredo, making it their second project as a duo and third overall collaborative album with each other, counting 2018's Fetti with rapper Currensy. The album features guest appearances from Anderson .Paak, Larry June, and JID, and is divided into three acts.

Promoting the album, the duo starred in a short film located in Japan, released the lead single "1995", two music videos, limited-edition vinyl records, a video game, and went on a North American and European tour. The album received critical acclaim from music critics, praising the album's production and duo's chemistry, while a few noted it to be inferior to its predecessor. Commercially, Alfredo 2 debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200, number 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and topping the Independent Albums chart, alongside charts from various countries.

Background

In May 2020, The Alchemist and Gibbs released the album Alfredo, which was their first project between only each other, following the album Fetti with fellow rapper Currensy in 2018. The album would later be nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Following Alfredo and preceding its sequel, they collaborated on "Fake Flowers" with Currensy on Boldy James' Bo Jackson (2021), "Blackest in the Room" on Gibbs' solo studio album Soul Sold Separately (2022), and the remix to "Ferraris in the Rain" with Schoolboy Q (2024). During that time, Gibbs solely released his studio albums Soul Sold Separately (2022) and You Only Die 1nce (2024).

Music and lyrics

Overview

Alfredo 2 is a hip-hop album that features guest appearances from JID, Larry June, and Anderson .Paak. It is nearly 48 minutes long and contains fourteen tracks, considered longer than its predecessor. John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute compares both albums, considering Alfredo 2 to be more accessible and sonically lighter than its predecessor, with the Alchemist sampling "jazzy fusion textures" released from the late-1960s to the mid-1970s. The album is divided into three acts. Majority of the album was recorded at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, as well as Gibbs' studio (Mount Kane) and the Alchemist's studio (ALC Studios).

Tracks: 1–7

Beginning Act I, the opening track and lead single, "1995", is a direct sequel to "1985" from Alfredo, containing an atmosphere of sparkling keys, pillowy pianos, and spacey guitar licks", with Gibbs rapping about his lowest points in life and how he's overcome them, as the Alchemist's guitar riff highlights in the background. The second track, "Mar-a-Lago", samples dialogue from the 2001 hood film Baby Boy, as Gibbs raps about anticipating a federal raid on his property. He later raps over a psychedelic beat on the third track, "Lemon Pepper Steppers". The fourth track, "Ensalada", primarily features Anderson .Paak on the chorus under a soulful hook with a laid guitar backdrop.

The fifth track, "Empandas", shows the Alchemist's bassline blending with Gibbs' sense of humor like a "fluid conversation". He references a 2022 incident where Gibbs was attacked at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Buffalo while taking shots at rappers Benny the Butcher and Jim Jones. The sixth track, "Skinny Suge II", starts Act II with an "eerie 80s-noir vibe" and interpolates the opening lines from Ice-T's 1988 song "Colors", as if Gibbs channels the "nightmare walking, psychopath talking" under a high-pitched scream and "heavy knocks of reverberating bass". On the seventh track, "Feeling", Larry June assists in his delivery from flashing to logistics, contrasting Gibbs' past-faced delivery on the track over a "syrupy piano-driven production".

Tracks: 8–14

The Alchemist's production brings a lighter approach with the eighth track, "I Still Love H.E.R.", exploring boom bap and following the tradition of rappers writing "love letters" about their relationships, taking inspiration from Common's 1994 song "I Used to Love H.E.R." and The Roots' 1999 song "Act Two (The Love of My Life)". The ninth track, "Shangri La", creates a "millennial R&B-rap sound", as Gibbs shows a breathless flow with several rhymed syllables into each bar. Bringing a retrofuturistic vibe, in the tenth track, "Gas Station Sushi", Gibbs creates an extended pun from narcotics sales, takes aim at New Orleans rapper Currensy, and shows vulnerability over his regrets and still grieving the loss of rapper Mac Miller, concluding Act II.