Domo Genesis & The Alchemist - No Idols [2012]

Welcome to one of my many Write-Ups, where I dive into a contextual history of a project from an artist, while also breaking down the different parts worth mentioning. Come over to my Write-Ups page for a list of all of the work I’ve done so far.

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“Keepin’ live, smokin’ gettin’ high until I’m dead bitch”

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Look around you at the members of the now-defunct Odd Future collective: Earl is in the darkest pits of the low-fi esoteric rap scene as one of its leading members, Frank Ocean is an international R&B superstar and LGBTQ hero, and Tyler, The Creator, at one time hip-hops most controversial figure, won a Grammy for a progressive piece of indie-hop. It’s safe to say that the times have changed in the long decade since OFWGKTA hit the scene with their unique brand of brutal and punkish counter-culture, but as time goes on there are some members that have faded from the life of fame, individuals who deserved more attention for the amazing things they accomplished back in the day: Left Brain for his trend-setting production, Hodgy Beats (who goes by just Hodgy nowadays) who grinded for years to make a name for himself, and, of most importance to me, Domo Genesis. Being one of the latest additions to the Odd Future lineup, Domo joined the roster in 2009 after being a good friend with Tyler for a while. I’ll just be straight up with hindsight and say that, back in those early days of OF, there were a lot of fucking whiners. The kids were clamoring for Tyler and Earls edgy horrorcore raps, and while Hodgy seemed to have dodged the crossfire with high-profile features on their albums, people weren’t sold on Domo’s weed raps and more rap-centric approach to crafting music. The closest he came to trying to conform to the OF mindset was on his debut project, Rolling Papers, where he mixed struggle and murder bars together over a suite of Tyler’s earliest (and more barebones) beats; it’s not my favorite by a longshot, but it showed promise, and whenever he released Under the Influence the next year it became clear that being in the more traditional rap lane was going to suit Domo just fine. Rapping over beats you know are fire is one thing, but transitioning into an artist capable of running his own project was something that wasn’t truly tested until 2012.

I can’t explain to you why, but Domo Genesis is one of my favorite artists of all time, and every one of his projects that he’s released over the past 10 years are still in my rotation to this day. The man is also responsible, not single-handedly I must add, for one of my top five projects… ever. A project that so informed my love for hip-hop that for a long time it served as a benchmark for how I wanted rappers to rap, how I wanted samples to play, how I wanted features to be incorporated into a project. That tape is his collaborate mixtape No Idols, which he released in 2012 with the now legendary producer The Alchemist. Released, FOR FREE, during golden age of Odd Future’s run, No Idols is a clear and substantial link between the newer and younger movement that OF represented with the older, 90’s elements in hip-hop, a bridge spearheaded by the genius of The Alchemist’s production, who was also in a sort of renaissance period himself.

Funnily enough, someone who Domo thought the world of and considered a huge influence, Wiz Khalifa, also named his breakout project Rolling Papers

Domo Genesis the rapper, to me, is the epitome of trying your absolute hardest, where while he may not be the most in-depth and lyrical emcee to walk the earth, the heart and effort you hear in his bars gives him this rabid underdog feel to him, where every bar and every word is delivered with conviction and force. However, with that being said, there is still a smoothness to the way he can link whole verses together in a multiple-layered rhyme scheme, with the technicality of his rapping reaching some truly incredible levels across this project. His pen game shines brightly on tracks like Elimination Chamber, where he’s pushed by the presence of three of the hungriest emcees in that scene at the time to pen these super detailed internal rhyme schemes and multi-syllabic rhymes, which people like Nas and Big L were regular users of, but different here because of the sheer number of uses by Domo. Look at this shit right here: “I’m a bad muthafucka I ain’t use a rubber / super lover so soon you say hello to your newest brutha/ the truest colors what I bleed but you ain’t seen another /n***a leakin you gon’ have to see the deacon you stupid sucka”. Listening to this set of bars you can see how effortlessly he can switch between rhyme schemes, throwing in little flourishes with the use/super/soon/newest and bleed/seen/leakin’/see the deacon rhymes all existing within the framework of the rubber/brutha/another/sucka scheme. The crazy thing is that this attention to detail exists on virtually every single track here, and is the way Doms approached the entire project in terms of writing. But beyond the mere technicality of his raps, while there are a few gems to latch on to for a substance perspective, topical tracks here and there like the ode to loneliness on All Alone and the Pac-inspired weed anthem Me and My Bitch, the general content of his lyrics falls within a spectrum of topics that he returns to often. Bars on his come-up, how much better of a rapper he is than everyone, how hard he is, how his bars are going to destroy everyone, how wack the haters are; basically a showing of an underdog rapper if there ever was one. Basically what I’m saying is that, despite having the technical ability of someone like Kendrick Lamar, don’t expect Good Kid M.a.a.D. City level bars on here, and instead appreciate the flurry of words being painted on the canvas of amazing Alchemist beats.

Russian Roulette showed the game that The Alchemist was, first and formost, a masterclass sample digger, rivaling his most analogous contemporary, (and Oh No’s brother) Madlib

The Alchemist, one of the most prolific and legendary beatmakers in modern history, was within one of the most enlightened point of his career in 2012. He was coming off of a super 2011: the classic Covert Coup with Curren$y adding significant street cred to Alan’s name, and the EP Greneberg with Roc Marciano and Oh No furthered his career as Gangrene, setting him up perfectly for the second full LP from the group, Vodka and Ayahuasca, which released in January of 2012. I think 2012 is The Alchemist’s best year because that year brought us the projects that I consider to be his “big three” records, ones that defined the rest of career going forward in the underground: that Vodka and Ayahuasca with Gangrene showing his capacity as a stylistically distinct rapper, No Idols in July that showed how amazing the man is at collaborating and tailoring material to fit other talent, and his solo part instrumental/part compilation album Russian Roulette that showed his unmatched creativity when digging to find samples that no one else is going for. The fact is that almost everything he touched within the three year period of 2010-2013 is slowly coming to be considered classic material, but I put No Idols on a pedestal above all of the rest of those tapes because of the show of simplicity that The Alchemist showed up with in creating the instrumentals. Listening to Vodka and Ayahuasca and Russian Roulette, there is a lot of ancillary sounds that, while providing atmosphere and a sense of world-building, are something that Al thought was unnecessary going into a tape with someone that was as attention-grabbing as Domo Genesis. The sound of No Idols is more direct, limited to 3-5 elements within any given instrumental, and while the number of layers may be lower the impact of each element is picked specifically to be as potent and impactful as possible.

The sparseness and breathing room in his instrumentals, without being barren, will become the entirety of his focus once people like Daringer and Camoflauge Monk hit the scene, but you can still here him dabbling in that sound all the way back on this project. Gamebreaker is very nocturnal, with the metronomic keyboard and single snare loop latching on to the vocal samples (“listen to some music to get my soooooul touched” will never not be classic to me) in a very similar way that Griselda would pull off years later, but Al always has even his boldest samples come across smooth and expertly sequenced. Elimination Chamber is almost like live performance from a improv jazz group, but the bassline and scat drums are imbued with this sense of noir and mystery that few other instrumentals here can match; that vocal sample is something else too, the wailing that loops every few bars is fiery and passionate. That sinister atmosphere can also be found in instrumentals like Fuck Everybody Else, which also utilizes a heavy buzzing bassline, and The Daily News, the deadliest instrumental here. The Daily News is more chaotic with the tuba notes, the ice cold bells that chime away incessantly, but most importantly a direct and sharp drumline like a hood marching band hitting your precisely with pointed snares. But the thing about The Alchemist is that he doesn’t pigeonhole himself into this hardnosed corner, be equally skilled in creating reflective and blissful vibes. Till the Angels Come is like an instrumental from heaven itself, with an echoed drumline and guitar chords sounding like a loop out of a dreamworld, but distinctly grounded by the occasional DJ scratches Al throws in there; it’s like the soundtrack to an Alchemist fever dream. Me and My Bitch, probably the most stylistically unique beat here, takes a loop of fluttering flutes and a steady drumline to convey images of love affections: you know when in old Looney Tunes cartoons when someone looks at something beautiful? Yeah, this instrumental is what’s playing in Pepe Le Pew’s head. Rounding out the record are the more standoffish and brazen instrumentals, like the guitar solos looped to perfection on both Prophecy and Power Ballad (the latter in particular being one of the most memorable electric guitar samples I’ve ever heard in the genre). The Feeling is a straightforward horn section, sounding like a funk soundtrack from some 70’s blaxploitation film, really playing on that feeling of a victory lap around the game, stunting on everyone who’s ever doubted you or hated on you. Finally, we have the closing track, the eponymous No Idols, and not only do you get one perfectly challenging instrumental with the first half dominated by this pitched-up soul sample yelling at you like some demented child, but it switches into this amazingly smooth piano-arpeggio and slide-bass program; in a play of true legend, it switches BACK to the original instrumental to close out the mixtape at a fever pitch of energy and mania. All of this, from the buttery bass tracks, to the more gimmicky sick tracks, and on down to the in-your-face sample beating, is a remarkably complete picture of The Alchemist as a beatmaker.

I don’t think I’ve seen an album more perfectly accented by features than No Idols (maybe Pinata comes close), with every single featured verse and hook being among the best of each artists’ respective catalogues. Let’s start with the obvious ones: the Odd Future kids. Domo takes on Tyler, The Creator on the final track, going back and forth with the leader of his collective with such passion that I still to this day don’t know who won the exchange. Domo is rapping his ass off, his intro line “liftin’ up like the collar of Kanye on College Dropout” being one of his most memorable lines, but Tyler is something else on this track with his violence, irreverence, and outlandish wordplay setting him apart from every other featured artist here. He breaks into at least 4 different flows across his two verses (on two different beats no less), but his final words are some of the most relevant shits I’ve ever heard him say: “I want to be successful by the age of 21 cause 23’s too late I’m done / I wool-knitted this purse and bullshitted this verse /  but lucky enough the dick riders’ll still go berserk / it’s No Idols n***a”. It’s crazy to me that way back then he thought that 23 would be the end of his career, and although he was definitely in the stratosphere at that time, he would go on to win a Grammy at 28. Earl Sweatshirt is the other OF member that features on the album making a whopping three appearances on three different tracks. The Daily News is just Earl on hook duty with Action Bronson, but the grit and age that he could convey with his voice (he was just 18 at the time) has always been so impressive to me. But his verses are what really get me, with his verse on Elimination Chamber being some of the most cold-blooded shit on the record, where the dude eats cereal with Mickeys, and hits the whip drunk as hell and has the balls to say “bitch I’m busy crusin’, ‘scuse me”. This one really seemed like that Alchemist production brought out the best in him, with his flow and aggression elevated to levels that people weren’t ready for (Doris wouldn’t come out until next year). But it’s his verse on Gamebreaker that is in my top 5 Earl verses ever, easily, starting with the amazing triple-play in “back to the Olive Garden, breaded like Paul McCartney / Beatle and every time you see him know the armor sparkly”. The end of his verse with the “tight as skin when the needle prick” is such good imagery, and the send off “OF: never present tense, eat a dick, bitch” shows his wordplay is just fucking effortless. Such a good verse from the earliest days of Earl’s genius; classic.

You can just feel that “new energy” in this photograph. An image associated with the Elimination Chamber single, you can see Action Bronson (right), Domo (second from right, birding us), The Alchemist (Center, flexing too hard), Earl Sweatshirt (second from left, thankful to be back in the states), and Vince Staples (right, coordinating a squabble from his Motorola Rzr)

But there *are* other people on this record believe it or not, and all of them are magnificent in their own right. We can talk about Smoke DZA, who was in the beginnings of a long and fruitful career himself in 2012, coming through on Power Ballad with some top-shelf weed bars that rivalled Domo himself; he was much more animated back then than he is now, so even his delivery is something that inspired hype back then. SpaceGhostPurpp, the leader of the increasingly famous Raider Klan back in 2012, lent a deadly verse to The Daily News, coming through with a surprisingly hard verse with some colorful wordplay about the money in his pocket being the same color as Luigi, and assassinating you at the rap cypher with his lyrical skills. I love his cadence on certain parts in his verse, very short and succinct rapping that gave it this amateur but dark edge. Action Bronson is on two tracks here, sharing that half-hook with Earl on The Daily News, but it’s his verse on Elimination Chamber that telegraphed great things to come from this artist. He had already dropped Blue Chips with Party Supplies a few months earlier, but before 2012 would end he would drop his endearing classic Rare Chandeliers with none other than The Alchemist himself. Elimination Chamber built up super hype for that, with his usual brand of food and wresting humor somehow playing well amongst the focused aggression of the track. Vince Staples also joined the boys on Elimination Chamber, with his whopper of verse coming with such gems as “can’t even walk up in the church without n***as tryin’ to testify” and “I’m just trying to get what Diddy got, doing what got Biggie shot / they told me that I wasn’t shit but left me in the litterbox”; the next couple years would be my favorite time in Vince’s career, with almost every verse he dropped being absolute fire. But finally we have the last two features, Freddie Gibbs and Prodigy on Till the Angels Come, and oh boy did this track turn out to be everything this link up deserved to be. Over this amazingly blissful instrumental Freddie completely demolishes the pocket with the realest verse up to that point in the record, with his fast drug talk coming with his immortal words “so when I wake up I praise the lord, roll up a blunt, and fuck my bitch / make that ass get up and whip it: turkey bacon and some grits” “flirt with death just like the west, I might do life cause life’s a bitch”. But Prodigy wasn’t going to let Gibbs get away with it, because he drops what was probably his best verse in his later career on this feature; his nonchalant attitude to murdering people is so raw that you 100% believe this man is a killer, and you’d best believe his threats. “Straight up I will curl a n***a body up and peel off in a hot wheel / I thought I told y’all you n***as never listen, / I popped the desert eagle off and make your bitch piss in- / -side of your car, I’m tryin to relax / but you push me to the limit I’mma take it to the max” is probably my favorite Prodigy line ever, and just imagining him popping off a round and a girl pisses herself scared in a dudes car is just hilariously villainous, perfect for the image P was going for as a rapper (R.I.P. to the big homie).

After No Idols dropped, Domo Genesis leveled up into a rapper that, in my view, set himself totally apart from everyone else in the Odd Future collective. Many of the members would go on to achieve grand recognition and numerous awards, but Domo played in the background, continually putting out projects that were dear to his heart. He would release another Under the Influence, attempt one pivot at a mainstream album with GENESiS (which he said was an attempt to make music his family could listen to), and then put out a stream of tapes that explored different influences both historical and contemporary: Red Corolla for a more left-field spin, the Façade EP for the west-coast rider vibes, and the hugely underrated Aren’t U Glad You’re U with Evidence. But nothing would reach the grandiose nature, the full-pictured statement, or the unchecked hunger of No Idols. As For The Alchemist, I think people nowadays can see how far the man has come, and how much more he has to do. He’s done over a dozen albums since 2012, and many, many collaborations with other emcees throughout the years, but I think (at least for this era in Alchemist’s history) that Domo Genesis was best able to tap into the energy needed to take full advantage of the fire The Alchemist was giving him. His sound has changed a lot since then, something that you can see hints and glimmers of on No Idols, taking the adage “less is more” to heart as his career progressed. Durag Dynasty, Prodigy, Budgie, and, more recently, Boldy James and Conway the Machine have all received The Alchemist treatment, and hopefully we’re in for many more. This project was dropped at the height of the mixtape era, so you won’t be able to find this gem on streaming services, but take the time to seek out this project on DatPiff, the original mixtape kings, and I promise you won’t be disappointed. OFWGKTA Forever.

DatPiff/YouTube