Album Review: Lil B X Chance The Rapper - Free (The Based Freestyle Mixtape)

So when it comes to Lil B, AKA The Based God, to understand him, and his music, it’s best to get to know the man first, then ease your way into his ridiculously long canon of mixtapes, singles, and albums.

A few years back I made the mistake of going the other way around—I tried listening to his music first, and I just didn’t get it. But I wanted to, you know?

So I read about Lil B; I read about his lectures at prestigious universities, his love of animals, his emoji app with a vegan mayonnaise company, how his apartment burned down and a neighbor saved him, about how he just wants to spread positivity, and most importantly, about how he his very rare and based.

It was only after enough reading that I started to listen to Lil B’s musical output—his properly released I’m Gay, and his endless supply of mixtapes like God’s Father, Basedworld Paradise, and Ultimate Bitch.

So imagine how very blessed I was feeling when Lil B dropped a new EP with the Chicago’s Chance The Rapper—recorded in one weekend, all completely freestyled.

Free (The Based Freestyle Mixtape) is, at the very least, a peak into the creative process of both artists. It’s certainly not flawless, as one could expect from an effort comprised completely of freestyle rhymes, but it is also impressive, and could be used as an example of people who naysay rap music, saying that it doesn’t take skill. Throughout the EP, and specifically on the strong opening track “Last Dance,” it shows just how much skill it actually takes to rap; and not only rap, but to do it well.

It also sounds like they are just having an absolute blast recording this; “I’m just having fun with it,” Chance beams in the second half of the mix tape on “Do My Dance.”

Musically, across the six tracks, many of the beats used are akin to Lil B’s most common sound—“Last Dance,” “What’s Next,” “First Mixtape,” and “Do My Dance” all sound like they’d fit right at home on any of B’s output.

It’s kind of hard to review something that was, for the most part, completely improvised. Even when things don’t work out exactly, you have to admire the dedication it takes to stick with the song until you get things back on track.

Only on the meandering, lengthy “Amen” does it seem like the duo started to lose steam with this idea, but they do get it back on track quickly with the frenetic “Do My Dance.” Not every idea can be a great one, and on Free, Lil B and Chance trade lines and try to keep the energy high and try to keep the rhymes funny enough to make it an exciting listen. And for the most part, at least the first half of it, it is.

In the end, Free serves as a bit of a snapshot of a moment—both of the collaboration between these two artists, but also of these words; the lyrics delivered on this album will never really be delivered the same way again, if ever. Maybe that’s overthinking this project just slightly, because also, in the end, the fun atmosphere cast recalls childhood slumber parties with your best friends, and late night good ideas. For Chance The Rapper and Lil Bi, making an entirely freestyled EP was one of those late night good ideas, and they just happened to stick with it until the end.

For fans of either artists, it is certainly not “essential” listening, but it is worth it to hear both performers really working at their craft from its humble beginnings.

  

Free is available now, as the title states, for free, from Lil B's soundcloud page.