2 CHAINZ
FREEBASE

2 Chainz hasn’t exactly been reliable of late. His ascent has been halted by too many guest bars, a patchy full-length and a cookbook, so we’ll be the first to admit that the prospect of a “throwaway” new EP didn’t exactly instill us with confidence.

It’s a welcome surprise then, that FreeBase is the best collection of tunes Tity Boi has put together in ages. It’s concise for a start – there are six proper tracks – and each tune is a bona fide banger, produced by some of the best in the industry – Honorable C Note, DJ Paul, Mike Will Made It, Metro Boomin’ and Young Chop. It feels as if Tity has spared no expense, his rhymes are funny and sharp (from ‘Trap Back’s triplet acknowledgement “This flow come from Drizzy he got it from Migos they got it from Three 6” to ‘They Know’s humorous “I run that bitch over, call it Trukfit.”) and he’s hooked up a litany of smart guest spots – A$AP Rocky, Ty Dolla $ign, Rick Ross, Cap 1 and, amazingly, Lil Boosie. It’s cracking stuff from beginning to end… who’d have thought?