Keef’s ear has always been geared toward the dramatic, and Almighty So 2 gives his gothic raps a new grandeur. His best songs have a certain rawness to them, but here, the mixes are crisper, more professional-sounding. Leveling up in the studio can sometimes mean sanding off the edges, but every one of these songs is diamond-sharp. “Almighty (Intro)” takes a sample of the oft-used Carl Orff composition “O Fortuna” and chops it up while snare drums flurry underneath, building tension as a voice levels affirmations and insults for over a minute (“Your mama could have you all over again, you still couldn’t be me”). Then Keef comes in and the drums gallop while he drops bizarre flexes (“She put my nut in her cup and she chased her Patrón”) and points out how his come-up was ordained: “I was born in ’95, I been ready since ’91…Sense a cougar headin’ for that ass? Boy, you better run.” It checks every box for a great rap intro and puts Keef in pole position to floor it.So 2 is this big all the way through. Keef stays restless, indulging wild thoughts and building them out to feature-length productions. “Drifting Away” is a marvel of Zaytoven-esque pianos, 808 thumps, glitching synths, and digital flutes that shimmer and stomp behind Keef’s money talk and jabs at Kanye West’s claims of innovating drill music. Ironically, it sounds far removed from drill, like it would’ve slotted as neatly on Uzi’s Eternal Atake or any one of TisaKorean’s last few albums. That’s the magic of Chief Keef—even when he’s sticking to the script, he can make the unexpected happen. Tierra Whack might not have been the first rapper to come to mind for a Keef collab, but she catches a vicious double-time flow over the back half of “Banded Up” that perfectly compliments Keef’s half-time yelps. Would you ever expect Keef to say “I start wearing yellow diamonds, it look like I peed myself” and comparing enemies to the old mascot for Honeycombs cereal over angelic choir vocals on “Treat Myself”? Or to work Bobby Womack and Wilson Pickett samples into a roaring vintage drill track on “1,2,3”? Or to fit triplet drum rolls over spiraling piano keys on “Neph Nem”? The fact that they all feel left-field and like no-brainers is a testament to Keef’s sustained ability to surprise after 15 years.With that confidence comes a new investment in his legacy. Keef’s still focused on present and future success, but he spends just as much of Almighty So 2 considering his arduous journey to the top. Regret and longing aren’t new to him, but at the end of his first verse on “Jesus,” he briefly works through the perspective shift that came with his move from Chicago to California. The streets of his mind are less active but he remembers every run-up. “Prince Charming” is one of several songs packed with the kind of memories treasured most by those who make it out: advice from his grandmother, the bologna that used to be on his plate, situations that made his “front yard look like a GTA car meet.”
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