Alchemist And Oh No Plan Gang Green Album

The current economic downturn has artists rethinking their budgets, while others are seeing their projects delayed until 2009. But, to hear Alchemist tell it, this could be exactly what the game needs.

"With this era in rap, where SoundScan is all horrible, its like, 'Whats going on?'" Al tells HipHopDX. "Being able to just do this with Oh No out of thin air makes me feel like were past that hump. We didnt make records with radio in mind; it was just fun and creative. Im seeing the power, because we dont have to wait to get commissioned every time."

The pair met in LA after Oh No and Roc C opened up for a show that Alchemist and Evidence [click to read] were headlining. They exchanged beats and rhymes online, and rechristened themselves as Gang Green, due to their mutual love for a certain form of "herbal refreshment" enjoyed by many artists. Al and Oh No have already finished the album, which features them alternating between rapping and producing for each other. Given the fact that Oh No is Madlib's younger brother, Alchemist says he and Oh drew a different kind of inspiration from the critically acclaimed collaboration Champion Sound.

"We were definitely inspired by [Dilla and Madlib]--not so much musically, but the way they collaborated from not really knowing each other like that at first," Al adds. "The fact that me and Oh didnt really know each other as well gave us that same kind of mutual respect from a distance. Theyre the big brothers to us, and to even be considered on that level of collaboration is great to me."

Alchemist plans to release his solo project, Chemical Warfare, on Koch in January of 2009. The collaborative album with Oh No is expected to drop shortly thereafter. Al's digital only EP, The Cookbook [click to read], is available now, and more information and updates are available at AlchemistBeats.ning.com.