Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100
Review scores
SourceRating
Christgau's Consumer Guide
Cokemachineglowfavorable
Exclaim!favorable
HipHopDX3.0/5
Pitchfork6.6/10
PopMatters
RapReviews.com7.5/10

The Free Houdini (styled as theFREEhoudini) 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. It was made available for 90 days as a one-track MP3 for download from the Anticon website, later released in a deluxe CD package.

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".

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'." 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."

Track listing

No.TitleLength
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

External links