The Madlib-produced Pinata / Bandana records proved that nobody should be surprised by what kind of beats Gangsta Gibbs can stake his claim on. So of course a dude who sounds like a worldbeater whether he’s spitting over faded cratedigger samples or subwoofer-crushing 808s would click tight with Alc’s eclecticism. Alchemist keeps it soulful — even wistful at points, like on the Rick Ross-featuring “Scottie Beam” and its luxuriously languid piano — while Gibbs’ underground-economy raps have the embattled kind of edge that proves his gangster-flick concepts are seen through all the way into the third-act tragedy many quasi-mafiosos miss.