Flying High - EP

Whether you caught on during his days with Prodigy and Havoc or you caught up in just the past few years, The Alchemist’s arc towards a certain type of hip-hop stardom has as much to do with an awestruck respect for his craft as it does his rapper collaborators. With his ever inventive instrumentals, the producer draws in some of rap’s most elite and ascendent independent emcees, some of whom appear on this brief yet dope EP.

Flying High takes off with “RIP Tracy,” reuniting the well-matched lyrical duo of Earl Sweatshirt and Armand Hammer’s billy woods. Longtime associate Boldy James follows T.F’s aggressive bars on the subdued “Trouble Man” with far eerier ones, while MIKE and Sideshow cruise above the jazzy fray of “Bless.” Alchemist jumps on the mic too as frequent fliers Larry June and Jay Worthy take the pimp game to the skies on “Midnight Oil,” a musical mille-feuille fit for first-class passengers. Aspiring spitters and ALC devotees are gifted here with a reprise of the beats for all four tracks.