There’s something of a chasm between the respective styles employed by Larry June and 2 Chainz. On one side of the scale sits June as the everyman iconoclast, whose nonchalant approach—spitting simple flexes and straightforward routines over post-hyphy beats and serene loops—barely gets his heart rate above resting. Staring across from him is 2 Chainz as trap’s resident elder statesman, who’s made his bones in the sub-genre wielding his larger-than-life presence with absurdity and spontaneity. So at first, Life Is Beautiful, a collaboration featuring the duo and the Alchemist, seems like an improbable logic problem: an album that seeks to enjoin a square peg with a round hole.
For years now, the Alchemist has been steadily transitioning away from crafting the bone-shuddering boom-bap beats of his early career and toward furnishing dreamscapes with psychedelic loops and minimal effects. It has cemented the Beverly Hills-raised legend as a go-to producer for indie darlings and mainstream stars alike, weaving brilliant albums with Boldy James, Earl Sweatshirt, and Roc Marciano, tinkering and experimenting to tailor to his collaborators’ idiosyncrasies. But Life Is Beautiful’s three-body problem proves to be a tad more difficult. Catering to June’s laid-back temperament, the triumvirate play around in a breezy, luxurious atmosphere (not unlike that of the Alchemist’s sauntering, 2023 EP, Flying High). Yet, the competency can feel a tad underwhelming at times, as though you can feel the meat being left on the bone by the reduced hunger.
It mirrors the strategy employed on The Great Escape, the 2023 link-up between June and the Alchemist. A placid haze settles over the 37-minute runtime of Life Is Beautiful, turning the production into an easy-listening exercise: You can almost hear the waves lapping in the background of “I Been” as the synths take control, or feel yourself drifting away to the serene vocal sample (which sounds eerily reminiscent of those old Italian movie theme songs) on the opener “Munyon Canyon.” In terms of beat selection, there are sparse callbacks to the Alchemist’s boom-bap tendencies—the mafioso piano loop on “Colossal” rattles around in the listener’s brain, while “Bad Choices” blares with its loud mix and screaming soul interpolation—but much of the production’s best moments hinge on making that drumless minimalism stretch for June and 2 Chainz. Little more than a fluttering flute sample fills the atmosphere on “Life Is Beautiful,” providing a brilliant foil to the pair’s deep tenors as they celebrate their victories.
On paper, the tranquil churn of Life Is Beautiful is set for June to take reins, yet it’s clear from the very outset that 2 Chainz is the driving force behind the project’s momentum. With a less challenging production environment, June largely rests on his magnetic relatability instead of employing inspired deliveries, causing some of his musings—on picking up bagels with cream cheese or practicing calisthenics, for example—to register as tepid. The onus falls upon 2 Chainz to imbue the record with energy via sparks of hysterical spontaneity. He gleefully boasts about how “intermittent fasting with the burpees” has him slimmed down on “Life Is Beautiful,” and describes requiring two-step verification before embarking upon sexual relations on “Jean Prouvé.” Rarely does that liveliness reach June by osmosis—though when it does, like when the San Francisco rapper blisters through his verse on “Epiphany,” it’s invigorating. In turn, the stretches where 2 Chainz takes his foot off the pedal feel sanded down.
That sort of mundanity represents the other side of the coin for the Alchemist’s recent collaboration albums. When the stakes are lowered, as they are here, Alchemist is more akin to a floor-raiser than the virtuoso who helps MCs shatter expectations, sometimes sacrificing innovation in lieu of quality assurance. Life Is Beautiful is a microcosm of that balancing act, and it pulls it off moderately well, fighting to remain distinct from the gravitational pull of the “Introspective Dad Rap” label that could bulldoze over the music’s intricacies. “Mindin’ my business, drinkin’ water, doin’ crunches/Gettin’ paid for discussions over Alchemist production,” 2 Chainz boasts on “I Been,” pinning his placement over Alchemist beats as a legacy career achievement, a relaxed victory lap that doesn’t ask for more than he’s willing to give.
ALBUM REVIEWS
Grandeur sits at the heart of ‘This Music May Contain Hope’, RAYE’s second album, and the result feels nothing short of breathtaking. On this record, the singer born Rachel Keen explores a wide spectrum of sounds across its 73 minute length, moving from emotional ballads to lively funk moments and the jazz pop style she has become closely associated with. It can feel overwhelming at first, yet the magic that comes from RAYE fully committing to her vision makes the experience rewarding from start to finish.
‘This Music May Contain Hope’, a conceptual project about pushing through insecurity and heartbreak, unfolds like a lavish stage production. RAYE takes on the dual role of main character and guiding voice throughout the story. “Allow me to set the scene. Our story begins at 2:27am on a rainy night in Paris. Cue the thunder,” she says during the opening track ‘Girl Under The Grey Cloud’, which arrives with sweeping orchestral strings. Spoken passages appear across the album, helping shape the narrative and giving the project a sense of direction, almost like hearing the official recording of a Broadway show.
With this framework in place, the South London artist allows herself to fully explore the album’s diverse musical palette, and most of the time it works in her favor. Sometimes she fully embraces the theatrical side of the concept, especially during the closing section of the smooth R&B track ‘The WhatsApp Shakespeare’. Other moments are delivered more straightforwardly, such as the emotional slow building ballad ‘I Know You’re Hurting’. She also revisits her earlier dance influences with the impressive house track ‘Life Boat’.
Across the entire album, two things stand out clearly. RAYE’s flexible vocals sound better than ever, and her songwriting feels sharper than it has before. Take the playful highlight ‘I Hate The Way I Look Today’, a swing jazz inspired track reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, where she admits “I’m okay to be lonely / If I’m lonely and skinny / I have such silly self-loathing thoughts, it seems”. Then there is the emotional storytelling in ‘Nightingale Lane’: “It was right there, early June / Next to Old Park Avenue / Standing in the rain, I watched him walk away”.
Despite all the vulnerability and emotional struggles explored throughout the record, RAYE ultimately reaches a place of optimism, staying true to the album’s title. She gathers her close friends on ‘Click Clack Symphony’ with support from Hans Zimmer, finds closure with guidance from Al Green on the smooth seventies soul inspired ‘Goodbye Henry’, and reaches toward something greater alongside her sisters Amma and Absolutely on the uplifting ‘Joy’ as she searches to be “free of all the pain and every fear”. After the stormy opening imagery of that “rainy night” and “thunder”, RAYE eventually realizes that “the sun exists behind the clouds”, as she shares on ‘Happier Times Ahead’.
‘This Music May Contain Hope’ shows RAYE performing at her absolute peak. The album feels huge in scale and emotionally powerful, yet it remains rooted in honest experiences and real feelings. Yes, it asks a lot from the listener, but that is also what makes it so special. Every dramatic moment and musical shift feels like RAYE claiming her independence and finally creating music entirely on her own terms.
