This Thing of Ours 2

by The Alchemist

Released October 8, 2021 via ALC Records

Reviewed October 18, 2021

Top tracks (based on community voting)

Miracle Baby (58%), Lossless (58%), 6 Five Heartbeats (55%)

Following up his wonderful first EP of the year, The Alchemist returns with This Thing Of Ours 2; another stellar set of instrumentals, with a great mix of artists performing over them. Much from the first edition continues on the sequel, with a gritty palette of New York-style hip-hop and some great abstract emcees flourishing atop them. It doesn’t have the same grasp as the first one does initially, but these tracks create an experience that far outweighs each individual piece. – Jared (8/10)

Another head-turning ensemble of gifted emcees are aligning for the soon-after sequel to The Alchemist’s This Thing Of Ours EP. Both projects have been short, sweet, and amazingly potent. Al puts together yet another personalized batch of grimy, eerie, woozy instrumentals and doles them out to eight rappers across a 12 minute runtime. With the exception of the Danny Brown-led Bruiser Brigade posse cut, This Thing Of Ours 2 breaks with the trend of features coming in pairs on the original installment. Naturally, the brevity of these projects keeps them being entirely fulfilling, but perhaps with even more sequels to come, This Thing Of Ours will amount to a substantial pile of music. – DeVán (7.5/10)

To think there’d only be one iteration of This Thing of Ours would be nonsensical. Too many MCs dwell in The Alchemist’s sphere, and some of them don’t live in the warmth of daylight. A great many lurk in the night’s shadow, a scene akin to this project’s cover. The likes of Bruiser Brigade and Zelooperz reside along the alleyways, hosted by instrumentals only illuminated by a peripheral traffic light or two. MAVI and MIKE are voices heard in the dead of night, as your sneakers are submerged more with each step in the evening rain. The instrumentals on This Thing of Ours 2 are the polar opposite to its predecessor. But The Alchemist acts as a guide through the seediness his beats have been defined by. Navigation leading to another cast of characters being made; their fingers pricked and their blood dipped into a book that supersedes the word “family.” If the first EP was Season 1, This Thing of Ours 2 is Season 2, peeling away at the underbelly of a crew that is growing by the album. This latest joint from The Alchemist builds anticipation for more, while adding new ingredients into the mix for a series that’s bound for sequels aplenty. – Ben (Synth) (7/10)