The Free Houdini

The Free Houdini
Mixtape by Themselves
Released	March 25, 2009 (2009-03-25)
Genre	Alternative hip hop
Length	54:42
Label	Anticon
Producer	Jel, Doseone
Themselves chronology
The No Music of AIFFs (2003) The Free Houdini (2009) Crowns Down (2009)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100 [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[2]
Cokemachineglow	favorable [3]
Exclaim!	favorable [4]
HipHopDX	3.0/5 [5]
Pitchfork	6.6/10 [6]
PopMatters	[7]
RapReviews.com	7.5/10 [8]

The Free Houdini (styled as theFREEhoudini ^[9] ) is a 2009 mixtape by American hip hop duo Themselves.

It is a return after a six-year hiatus that saw the members, Jel and Doseone, spend the majority of their time on their other band Subtle. ^[10] It was made available for 90 days as a one-track MP3 for download from the Anticon website, ^[11] later released in a deluxe CD package. ^[12]

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the mixtape received an average score of 74% based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ^[1]

Jer Fairall of PopMatters gave the mixtape 8 stars out of 10, saying, "Here, Doseone is once again utilizing his skills as a performer to propel the music forward, and the result is a record that is actually thrilling and fun to listen to, rather than simply 'interesting'." ^[7] Jayson Greene of Pitchfork gave the mixtape a 6.6 out of 10 and called it "another step in Anticon's breathless, never-ending push forward." ^[6]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Pay That Piper"	2:13
2.	"Oversleeping"	1:53
3.	"Know That to Know This" (featuring Aesop Rock)	3:21
4.	"Kick the Ball" (featuring Buck 65)	2:57
5.	"1 for No Money" (featuring Sole)	1:07
6.	"Rappers Is Interns (Freestyle)"	1:12
7.	"Party Rap Sucks" (featuring Busdriver)	1:24
8.	"Long Time Coming" (featuring Lionesque)	3:51
9.	"Swarm of Bee II"	2:44
10.	"Back 2 Burn" (featuring Pedestrian)	1:48
11.	"The Mark" (featuring D-Styles)	3:01
12.	"Keys to Ignition" (featuring Serengeti)	3:13
13.	"Roman Is As Roman Does"	1:56
14.	"The Medicine" (featuring Slug)	3:03
15.	"Free & Void"	2:00
16.	"Rapping 4 Money" (featuring Clouddead)	3:56
17.	"Rappers Is Modelships (Freestyle)" (featuring DJ Baku)	1:54
18.	"Puzzled" (featuring Passage and DJ Andrew)	3:17
19.	"Cross-section of Wreckage" (featuring Alias and DJ Andrew)	2:56
20.	"Each Ant in Their House"	7:05

References

1. "theFREEhoudini by Themselves". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
2. Christgau, Robert. "Themselves". Christgau's Consumer Guide . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
3. Betz, Chet (July 8, 2009). "Themselves: theFREEhoudini Mixtape". Cokemachineglow. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
4. Quinlan, Thomas (July 23, 2009). "Themselves - theFREEhoudini deluxe". Exclaim! . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
5. Noz, Andrew (March 25, 2009). "Themselves - theFREEhoudini Deluxe". HipHopDX . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
6. Greene, Jayson (May 29, 2009). "Themselves: theFREEhoudini". Pitchfork . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
7. Fairall, Jer (August 2, 2009). "Themselves: theFREEhoudini". PopMatters . Retrieved May 28, 2017.
8. Sirota, Eric (January 26, 2010). "Themselves :: theFREEHoudini". RapReviews.com. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
9. "theFREEhoudini deluxe". Anticon . Retrieved June 14, 2018.
10. Breihan, Tom (February 20, 2009). "Themselves Return From Hiatus, Plan Free Mixtape". Pitchfork . Retrieved November 19, 2014.
11. Segal, Dave (March 16, 2009). "anticon.tent: Themselves Offer Free Album Download". The Stranger . Retrieved November 19, 2014.
12. Frisicano, Andrew (April 1, 2009). "Themselves - 2009 tour dates, 2 NYC shows w/ Stabbing Eastward feat. Tunde TVoTR, a free mixtape". BrooklynVegan . Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2014.

External links

• The Free Houdini at Discogs (list of releases)