Despite announcing the project over two years ago, on October 31, Curren$y and Freddie Gibbs finally dropped their highly anticipated collaboration project, Fetti. Sharing a name with their Alchemist-produced Grand Theft Auto collaboration, Fetti extends the palpable camaraderie of the trifecta into a concise and cohesive album. With all but one song clocking in at under three minutes, the trio manages to avoid the pitfalls of tedium that frequently accompanies collaborative rap tapes.
Curren$y is beloved, not only for his consistency but also for his prolificness in rap. He’s already dropped five projects this year alone, in The Spring Collection, Parking Lot Music, Air Freshna, The Marina, and Fire In The Clouds. Such a feat which would be unprecedented for many artists, but in reality, it’s honestly reflective of a slower musical year by Andretti standards. The rhymes are still full of lowriding Impalas and high octane marijuana, but there’s an increased tenacity that seems to come from sharing the limelight with Gibbs.
Freddie Gibbs is following up the June release of his Teddy Pendergrass inspired fourth album, Freddie. Here, he switches back and forth between breakneck rhyming and employing melodic techniques from his previous work on cuts like “Now and Later Gators.” Both artists hold seats as “your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper” archetypes, and it’s refreshing to hear the duo on wax once more. Alchemist provides a medley of moody soulful samples that comfortably fit into the sonic palette of both parties. As a result, both Curren$y and Gibbs sound like legitimate fans of each other, rather than two people plotting on a come up.
There are countless quotables about living the high life, paired with extravagant yet nonchalant flexing. Freddie, aka the self-proclaimed “King of shit talking,” makes a strong case for the crown, spitting absurdities about being like “Malcom X with the perm nigga” and how he’s already a “legend in this bitch and might do Coachella as a hologram.” Curren$y, on the other hand, tosses off boasts like, “They talk but never attack, I walk with God I'm relaxed/ I got a Rollie collection, you duckin' bill collectors/ You niggas always stressin'/ I'm in a suite in a Westin in a notebook sketchin,'” with the ease of a man reclined in a Laz-e-Boy.
They’re having a great time and I can feel it. Fetti sounds like celebration music at the end of a heist movie, provided everyone made it out at the end. Lyrics about flashy cars, exotic locales, and slinging illicit substances pervade the album; Curren$y plays the role of cautious navigator while Gangsta Gibbs presents himself as a hotheaded gunslinger, almost manic in his desire to secure the bag. Both men come with high levels of lyrical intensity, however there are moments where Freddie sounds hungrier than ever, rapping in a quicker cadence than usual. Although Curren$y maintains his more leisurely approach to rhyming, there’s definitely a notable increase in his lyrical dexterity.
It’s the little details, like the seamless continuity between the two artists’ verses, that make Fetti such a pleasant outing. On “New Thangs” for example, Curren$y steps out of a Caddy wearing yellow and white AirMax. Freddie continues the imagery with his own flair, wearing Off-White AirMax the color of crack, before ending his verse by twisting up in the ‘Lac. Fetti sounds like the work of a team accustomed to each other’s strengths, and thus, know how to avoid stepping on each other’s toes. “Now and Later Gators” finds Freddie alone crooning about pimping and candy-colored boots; it would have been perfectly at home on his last album. The following cut “No Window Tints” is a solo Curren$y ode to a new custom whip. The inclusion of their respective solo offerings adds an extra layer of variety while allowing the artists to stretch a little further creatively.
Perhaps taking a lesson from other less focused collaborative tapes, Fetti runs under 30 minutes, making the listener crave for more rather than sift through mutually monotonous music. The Alchemist has crafted a beautiful soundscape that brings the best out his collaborators, culminating in some of the most beautifully cinematic gangsta music I’ve heard in a minute. There’s no feeling of big industry collusion or machinations, but rather the vision of three men who legitimately enjoy each other’s work, and came together as a united front to get that fetti.