The Alchemist celebrated his birthday on October 25 with a new video: "Drakkar Noir", a birthday freestyle with Al himself on the mic. He produced the beat, Eddie Sancho mixed it, Joe LaPorta mastered it, and it comes out on his own label ALC Records.
Al on the Mic
Most people know Alchemist as one of the most important producers of the last three decades. Fewer remember that he started out rapping. In the early nineties he was one half of the Whooliganz, and he has picked up the mic again and again since, on his own projects and as part of Gangrene with Oh No.
In the video he sits on a windy beach in a hooded puffer jacket and raps two minutes straight into the camera. The line he picked to promote it on X says a lot about his view on rap: speed and hitting every syllable mean nothing if the rhymes do not land. Coming from someone who has produced for the best lyricists of his generation, that hits.
A Classic Name
The title borrows the name of one of the best-known men's fragrances ever made. Guy Laroche launched Drakkar Noir in 1982, in a fully black bottle that was a small revolution back then. By 1991 it was the best-selling premium men's scent in the world. A classic with a heavy, dark presence fits Alchemist perfectly.
Uncle Al's 2026
The freestyle lands in a busy year. In August he released Before The World Blows with Erykah Badu, her first studio album in 16 years, with guests like Westside Gunn, Earl Sweatshirt and Steve Lacy. I wrote about it in my album review of Before The World Blows.
For me, Alchemist is one of the producers who shaped my own sound the most. You can hear that in my beat Platform Smoke, an 80 BPM piano and sax track built in his spirit. Happy birthday, Uncle Al.
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