With the incredibly prolific output of producer extraordinaire The Alchemist in recent years, hip-hop fans have had a feast to choose from – since making a big splash with Freddie Gibbs on 2020’s Alfredo, he’s put out nine studio albums and 25 full-length projects. It’s hard to even keep track of them all, but the announcement of Life Is Beautiful got a little extra attention, simply because many were curious how an artist like 2 Chainz would fit into his world. More known (lovingly) for dropping the most outlandish bar on a gimmicky song than fitting into the understated, bars-focused, art-rap delivery of an Earl Sweatshirt, Roc Marciano or Larry June – all artists who have made tapes with The Alchemist lately – the connection between the two ultimately becomes clear right away.

That connection is the general air of extravagance and opulence. Where 2 Chainz boasts with his bars – rolling in an expensive car, eating lobster and oysters – The Alchemist does it with his beats, beats that have always simply sounded expensive. 2 Chainz and Larry June make for an engaging duo, as if the guy who’s the life of the party and the guy who is smoking in the corner, waiting for everyone to inevitably notice him, formed a tag team. The obvious standouts, however, are 2 Chainz getting to flip the kind of wordplay that usually makes for hilarious puns into internal rhyme schemes and mic drop one-liners (one finds him floating a run for president because if someone we know can do it with a felony, so can he), and The Alchemist’s dynamic instrumentals. The best beat on the album is on the title track, built off of a flute loop. People have made fun of the overuse of flute-based hip-hop beats for years, but this has to be the most gorgeous flute beat you’ve ever heard. The Alchemist doesn’t let anyone tell him what he can or can’t do.