Freddie Gibbs is a rapper, writer and occasional actor who has cemented himself as one of the greatest of the 21st-century era of rap through his critically acclaimed collaboration albums — Piñata, Bandana and Alfredo to name a few — and his otherwise solid solo catalog.
Preceding the release of the album, minimal hints and promotional material were seen by fans in the forms of cryptic billboards, phone numbers (containing messages from Robert Englund) and posts from burner Instagram accounts. All of this culminated in the Halloween midnight release of “You Only Die 1nce,” a sequel to his 2017 album “You Only Live 2wice.”
Immediately from the first track, “Status,” you can hear parallels between this and “You Only Live 2wice” with both having an opening track containing a skit with Slink Johnson. However, instead of playing his character “Black Jesus” like on “You Only Live 2wice,” he ironically portrays himself as the devil talking to Freddie and sets up the major theme of this album: Freddie’s struggle to break his old habits and reflection on how his lifestyle has affected his mental health and those around him.
“Cosmo Freestyle” is where the album really kicks off as Freddie delivers a killer flow with jazzy production and offers some pretty clever wordplay, “Like Bo Jackson, I’ll switch leagues ***** don’t want no guest verses, I’m the real king of these sixteens,” and sees the devil talk to him again.
“Wolverine” marks another track with a laid-back jazzy beat with surprising production credits from fellow underground rapper 454. On the track, Freddie talks about people and things he sees around him in the industry although he doesn’t really flesh out his thoughts or observations past the surface level.
“Brick Fees” sees Freddie revisit his bread and butter of immersive and braggadocious gangsta rap over soft instrumental samples. His flow is smooth, the punchlines are harsh and thematically, this whole song can be seen as Freddie succumbing to the devil’s want for him to keep sinning as he returns to the dangerous and harmful world of gang life. The track is a standout for the album but is lacking from a production standpoint.
On “Rabbit Island,” Freddie retreats back to a more relaxed flow while keeping the same intensity in his lyrics, even including a hilarious stray towards J. Cole, “I ain’t ashamed like Jermaine, I won’t delete.” While lyrically it doesn’t add much to the album in terms of subject matter and the bridge doesn’t really work for me, the production stands out as the best so far in the album.
“It’s Your Anniversary” clocks in as one of the shortest tracks on the album but still manages to be the most memorable and standout moment on the project. The beat is a flip of the classic R&B hit “Anniversary” by the group Tony! Toni! Toné! It perfectly matches Freddie’s vocal delivery and buttery flow. The essence of the song is based on Freddie’s dark and intense lyrics which are beautifully bookended in the outro by the “Anniversary” sample.
The track is followed up by an interlude where Freddie gets voicemails interchanging from his ex chewing him out and the devil desperately trying to get him to pick up, as well as another solid track, “Yeah Yeah.” It’s a chiller song about Freddie’s indulgence in polyamory and meaningless relationships.
“Steel Doors” is another standout track that brings about surprising production credits in the form of BNYX, a famed producer for Yeat and the Working On Dying producer collective. Here the production contains a vocal sample that sounds like the basis of a cloud rap track until the boom-bap drums come in to complement Freddie’s typical flow. Another thing that makes this track stand out is the fact that it’s one of the only songs on the project to have an actual chorus, unlike many other songs that just feel like freestyles.
Ironically, the next song, “Walk It Off,” misses the mark for me because of its chorus. Here we only see Freddie give one verse for the whole song and then do refrains and choruses for the rest of it which makes it feel very formulaic and forgettable.
Heading towards the end of the album, “Ruthless” serves as a pretty unremarkable song in terms of production and subject matter, though it leads into the second BNYX-produced song of the album, “Origami.” Once again, BNYX delivers some of the best production on the album which allows for a solid verse from Freddie speaking about the people he came up with and loyalty.
The album closes strong with “On The Set,” an introspective song that sees Freddie rapping about the current state of the rap industry, referring to the shocking news about Diddy and various rappers who have died young due to drugs or violence, and how these things have affected him, “I was gon’ retire from rap when I seen that shit with Nipsey.”
“You Only Die 1nce” marks another solid album in the very consistent Freddie Gibbs discography. As long as Freddie can keep rapping at the level that we’re used to, it’s pretty hard for him to miss. The main issue is that while Freddie can make a good solo album, it’s pretty evident that the lack of a super-talented producer by his side, like Madlib or The Alchemist, hurts the ability for this album to shine like its predecessors.
Rating: 3.5/5
These albums are better fuck u mean his past producers