The Alchemist is easily one of the hottest producers in the game, and things are about to get a lot hotter for the man who's produced hit records for Prodigy, Lil Wayne, Cam'ron and many many more. The California-born MC released his debut solo album 1st Infantry five years ago, and he's set to return to the independent frontlines with his sophomore album Chemical Warfare, coming July 7 on E1 Music. It's not just any old sophomore record, however, as Alc is bringing together some classic names, both old and new, for the tracks.
Chemical Warfare reportedly follows a recognizable format as 1st Infantry, but its sound shows a definitive progression. Like 1st Infantry, Warfare boasts upward of 20 guest artists, from Jadakiss to West coast up-and-comer Blu, to even former Cash Money artist Juvenile. Yet the Alchemist says that the process of choosing which songs would make the cut was something of musical Darwinism in action.

“I was conscious of a lot of things when it came to this album, but it was more about the final selection of records,” he noted in a recent interview. “It wasn’t like I had all of these names on a list and threw them in a hat and shook them up and I was like, ‘These are all going to be on these songs and these are the guys that I want and these are the beats.’ It was much more spontaneous and natural thing of working for three years. In the end, when it came time to pick, I really just selected based on…[a] more sound-driven thing than lyrics-driven as far as what made the cut.” 

Working with some highly respected “golden age” emcees, including Kool G. Rap and KRS-One, has also been an honor for the production superstar.
"They've got this golden sound that’s just so golden and shiny,” explained Alc. “I was like, ‘Let’s go back to the golden age of Hip-Hop and pick out…a golden, shiny specimen of Hip Hop,’ like a real, real, real chachkied-up rapper. So I got Kool G. Rap’s number, and I was like ‘Now this guy is golden. I didn’t even think about it. I guess I’m from that era. I really just thought about guys who I loved, like [rappers] who I would’ve been ecstatic to have on my album.”

He then jokingly added, “I was being selfish and really fucking greedy I guess, because I really didn’t think about…anyone else. I really was like, ‘Hey, fuck all of them. Who do I want to hear on this album?’ It's a very selfish, self-centered way of producing. [Laughs] But anyways, basically, a guy like KRS-One, how could I not? KRS-One? Shit…I gladly can say in 2009, I have a song with KRS-One on my album, and it’s crazy."

Ultimately, he explains why the wait was necessary, and worth it in the end:

“I’ve been working on this record for a while,” he said. “I’m sure we were like ‘the Boy Who Cried Wolf’ with the release dates, but I was about to get put on the Detox list. So basically, through the long journey, when it was time, I was able to do a lot of records. The good thing about that is that some records that I did a couple of years ago for the album didn’t stand the test of time."
He went on, explaining why perspective is the key player in a production process that seems so promising at the start. "Every time you make a song, you‘re like “This is it. This is going to make the album, this is going to be the first song.’ As time progressed, I guess I was able to shake out the bag and see what stuck, and certain ones just didn’t stand the test of time. Some other ones got better over time. Same shit with beats. I make beats frequently, as you all know. Sometimes, a beat will get better over time. Other ones that I thought were just, ‘This is it, call Jay-Z right now, this is it,’ two to sixth months later, you’re like, ‘Good thing I didn’t call Jay-Z.’ With this album, I guess that’s how it ended up. I’m really happy with how it ended [up], but there were some songs that I thought were definitely going to make it that didn’t.”

Check out Chemical Warfare when it drops on July 7 from E1 Music. In the meantime, check out a video he did with Ohno called Under Siege.
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