Mobb Deep, Nas, Terror Squad, Wayne, Eminem, Kendrick, Freddie Gibbs, Action Bronson, Boldy James, Larry June, Mac Miller, Westside Gunn, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu. its crazy to say that this is but a small part of Alan The Alchemist’s 30+ year collaborative discography.
October 25, 1977, Alan Daniel Maman was born. Growing up in a household that looked nothing like the streets where most of the music he listened to came from. A comfortable family, not in the same way as his neighboring billionaires, but very well off. Growing up Alan knew he wanted nothing to do with that polished, snob scene though. Alan gravitated towards the rebellious energy of hip-hop. Break dancing, graffiti, skateboarding and writing. One of his biggest inspirations? Seeing the Beastie Boys, the white guy group tour with a legend like Run-D.M.C. It suggested the culture of hip-hop might have space for someone that looked like Alan, someone that didn’t fit the expected picture.
At fourteen years old Alan formed the Whooliganz with his friend Scott Caan. Yes, Scott Caan, son of Oscar nominated actor James Caan. Alan went by his first stage name Mudfoot. They rapped at parties around Los Angeles and caught the ear of B-Real from Cypress Hill. This connection pulled them into the Soul Assassins circle alongside other groups like House of Pain and Funkdoobiest.
In 1993 the Wooliganz released the single “Put Your Handz Up” on Tommy Boy Records. The song barely got any radio play which led to the album being shelved. Scott started drifting more towards acting while Alan stayed with the music. Friends started calling him The Alchemist. A nod both his name and to the science of turning old records into something new. I guess the nickname stuck with Alan.
DJ Muggs, from Cypress Hill and the Soul Assassins started taking Alan under his wing. He taught him how to use a sampler and a mixing board. Alan crashed on the couch, smoked, watched records being made and absorbed everything. He started helping on Cypress Hill tracks and became the main producer for his childhood friend Evidence and dilated Peoples and worked a ton with Defari. After moving to New York for college in the mid ‘90s, DJ Muggs introduced Alan to Mobb Deep. The duo from Queensbridge liked Alan straight away. Alan landed two tracks on Mobb Deeps 1999 album Murda Muzik. “The Realest” and “Thug Muzik”. Those tracks opened the of the floodgate.
All of the sudden Alan was in rooms with Nas, Ghostface Killah, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Snoop Dogg and many more. His beats were sample heavy though atmospheric. Dusty soul, disco, R&B fragments from the ‘70s and ‘80s flipped into something that felt both classic and slightly off balanced in the most perfect way. The Beverly Hills kid quietly became a fixture in the underground East Coast scene.
In 2004 The Alchemist released his first proper solo album called 1st Infantry. The album features a mix of established and underground voices and produced the single “Hold You Down” with Prodigy, Illa Ghee and Nina Sky. Around the same time of this release he became Eminem’s official concert DJ. A bus accident on tour left him with broken ribs and a collapsed lung, he didn’t let this hold him back though. The Alchemist kept moving. Return of the Mac with Prodigy in 2007, a natural extension of the Mobb Deep chemistry, two years later, 2009, Chemical Warfare, his second solo album. The same year he formed Gangrene together with Oh No. They would together make 5 projects with “Better than McDonald’s” being the latest and dropping in July 2026.
Together with componist Woody Jackson and Berlin electronic pioneers Tangerine dream he contributed to Grand Theft Auto V and even hosted the in game radio “The Lab”.
Things were going fast. However, the 2010s turned out to be one of the longest stretch of deep collaborations, never chasing the mainstream though. Covert Coup with Curren$y. Rare Chandeliers with Action Bronson. Albert Einstein with Prodigy. My 1st Chemistry Set with Boldy James. Lord Steppington with Evidence. Instrumental series like Rapper’s Best Friend. Projects with Domo Genesis, Fashawn, Roc Marciano. The Alchemist kept digging in crates. Vinyl, CD, kept refining an ear for samples that could carry both grit and atmosphere. Fetti with Curren$y and Freddie Gibbs came in 2018 and Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs alone in 2020. A soulful set that that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. That same year? LULU with Conway The Machine and The Price of Tea in China with Boldy James to name a couple.
Always staying close to the underground while still moving through big circles. In the 2020s The Alchemist still doesn’t slow down. There is no pause button and no breaks.
2025 was also a crazy year for The Alchemist fans. Life is Beautiful with Larry June and 2 Chainz. Alfredo 2 with Freddie Gibbs, a sequel to one of his more successful albums that came with little to no warning. Goldfish with Hit-Boy. Mercy with Armand Hammer and work on Infinite by Mobb Deep. Around this same time more music with Hit-Boy, Spiral Staircases with Larry June and Curren$y. There have also been rumors that have neither been confirmed nor denied about another Grand Theft Auto score for The Alchemist.
All this work would lead into Before the World Blows with Erykah Badu. A project that began years ago when Badu said she had always wanted to rap over “The Realest”. They spend 18 months in studios in Dallas and Los Angeles. They road tested everything in phone free rooms and are moving fluidly between soul, blues, rock, jazz and underground hip-hop. The album is set for midnight August 28 2026.
30+ years from where Alan started out as Mudfoot with the Wooliganz the line has stayed the same. The curiosity and the willingness to treat sampling, collaborations and making music not as a normal job or hobby, but as one continues activity. He still talks about the early days with DJ Muggs and Mobb Deep as the moments that truly opened the doors for him. The detailed, dusty, cinematic, soulful and sometimes experimental beats keep coming.
The Alchemist has always had a special place in his heart for Amsterdam. He often makes the city his first and last stop on tours. He knows the city like he knows New York. In a 2023 video he put it fairly plain; “ Whenever I travel overseas to go on tour I always make my first AND last stop the great city of Amsterdam. It’s like the bread for the sandwich.”
Even recently on the August 24 2026 he went to Platypus Records. A record store on the Zeedijk, he does this fairly often at this record store and people from across Europe always line up. He has been long time friends with the guys from clothing brand Patta & even recorded the EP Rap ‘n Glorie with Dutch rapper Kempi in the city.
His show a couple of minutes ago in the Melkweg in Amsterdam was just the latest installments of the fantastic career of the in my opinion best producer to ever do it. I’m off listening to Before the World Blows.
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