Tired of your Spotify playlists? The Purbalite is here to help with our Essential Listening series.

The Alchemist and Domo Genesis have just re-released their cult classic mixtape No Idols from 2012. After 11 years it still sounds excellent. 

No Idols is an amazing mixtape with its griddy flow and topics. The Alchemist as usual brings his amazing production skills to the table, helping the mixtape further excel. 

No Idols recalls one of the most important eras of rap, the early to mid 2010s. The flows, beats, and constant placement of Golf Wang – Tyler the Creator’s clothing brand – gives the listener a sort of culture shock and brings them back to nostalgic times. 

The feature list is stacked with formerly underground rappers who have now all achieved massive mainstream success, including Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Freddie Gibbs, Action Bronson, Vince Staples, Smoke DZA, and SpaceghostPurrp. 

Spaceghost, who has since developed a toxic social media presence, provides an amazing feature on the track “Daily News” from the time he was peaking in rap with features like this. He goes back and forth with Action Bronson and Earl Sweatshirt, showing the chemistry they created through this amazing track. 

The standout track of the album is “Elimination Chamber” with Domo Genesis, Earl Sweatshirt, Vince Staples, and Action Bronson. The well-crafted, aggressive verses provided by each artist make the song great. 

Overall, it is exciting to see The Alchemist revisit his old projects and re-release them to the public. No Idols is a perfect start for this reissue project, and hopefully, there will be more to come.