Westside Gunn has been teasing the release of his upcoming album for weeks. The rapper has taken a step back from his historically frequent drop rate to focus on crafting a focused, concise body of work. The fans already got to see the artwork, which features late wrestler Sid Eudy. On October 28, Westside Gunn took things a step further by dropping the tracklist. The album is predictably concise, but perhaps even more exciting than song titles is the list of guest appearances.
Westside Gunn posted the Still Praying tracklist on social media Monday evening. The rapper’s latest will include 14 songs. This is a return to form in terms of album length. His previous effort, and his most high profile yet, And Then You Pray for Me, was a whopping 21 songs. Some of the artists who are set to drop guest verses on the new album include DJ Drama, Boldy James and Rome Streetz. Westside Gunn took an interesting approach with regards to the unveiling of the features. Instead of pairing the artists with a song, Westside simply released the song titles and the features, without specifying which went where.
Other artists who are set to appear on Still Praying include AA Rashid, Brother Tom SOS, and WS Pookie. It’s an interesting approach to a tracklist, and one that serves to build up anticipation for the album while still preserving suspense. It’ll be a surprise to find out which song will feature a verse from Boldy James, and which will feature DJ Drama shouting over it. Then, of course there will be features from Westside Gunn’s Griselda crew. Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher, Stove God Cooks (also known as Stove Jesus) round out the Still Praying feature list. Check out the full tracklist below:
Last year, IDK treated fans to the high speed album, F65. Yesterday (October 25), the “Win” rapper confirmed the details surrounding his follow-up project.
In a slide post on Instagram, IDK announced Bravado + Intimo (stylized BRAVADO + INTiMO). Fans wait have to wait much longer for the full length release. On November 1, the 12 track body of work is scheduled to his streaming platforms.
One of the images included in the gallery showed a flash of Bravado + Intimo‘s official tracklist. But a quick trip over to Apple Music revealed that IDK’s complete bag of goodies. Based on the listing, supporters already sampled three of the tracks featured on the album. IDK’s previous singles “Denim” with Joey Badass, “Tiffany” with Gunna, and “Supernova” featuring TheArtist all made Bravado + Intimo‘s final tracklist.
Ahead of its release, IDK announced that a special vinyl pressing, with limited-edition art prints, will be exclusively available on his website. Find more information here.
Continue below for the full tracklist and official artwork.
Tracklist
1. “Hello”
2. “Celine In The Trap”
3. “Tiffany” with Gunna
4. “Kickin”
5. “Denim”with Joey Badass
6. “Miles Trumpet”
7. “Check!”
8. “Papercuts”
9. “Swith” featuring Conway The Artist
10. “Supernova” featuring TheArtist
11. “See You Again”
12. “Goodbi”
Artwork
X (formerly Twitter)
BRAVADO + INTiMO is out on 11/1 via .idk. Find more information here.
Ransom and Conway the Machine had underground hip-hop fans chomping at the bit about a week ago. The unofficial duo put out a track called “Higher Killer” alongside Lloyd Banks and producer V Don. Since its release on August 30, the record has garnered quite a bit of traction, raking in over 76,000 streams. Fans felt they were picking up the scent of an upcoming collaboration project. Well, they were spot on the money because Ransom and Conway are here a week later with Chaos Is My Ladder 2.
Given the straight-forward nature of the lead single, we were predicting that this would be a fairly simple listening experience. What we mean by that is that we saw a scenario where the project would be pretty short and not toy with the listener. Give us what we need and nothing more. That’s exactly what we are getting from Ransom, Conway, and V Don. It’s 10 cuts and it clocks in at around 27 minutes. In all honesty, that’s what we were hoping for. While they are certainly great MCs from a rapping perspective, we don’t think they can differentiate things enough to keep things sounding fresh. Conway’s last project was a pretty good example of this. But overall, this is a tight and very fine tape from two of NY’s most prolific acts.
Ransom and V Don closed out 2022 with a pre-Christmas drop entitled Chaos Is My Ladder. The sequel, offers even more bars, as Chaos Is My Ladder 2 unites two of the most revered MCs in the game, each known for their unparalleled lyricism and uncompromising style. The project represents a fusion of Ransom’s razor-sharp wordplay, Conway The Machine’s effortless flow and gritty storytelling, and production by V Don that complements the lyrical acrobatics Ransom and Conway display.
Chaos Is My Ladder 2 promises to be one of the most impactful underground projects of the year. Ran and Con bar up to the point that there is only room for one guest appearance, Lloyd Banks (who also made an appearance on CIML), who appeared on the project’s lead single “Higher Killer.”
“When V Don and I were recording Chaos Is My Ladder, we planned on making a series of releases. It wasn’t until we started recording CIML2, that we came up with the concept of bringing in a guest collaborator for each volume in the series.” Ransom recalls. “Conway was the first and only choice for CIML2. I know our fans will agree, it’s rarified air to get a project by two of the top lyricists in the game.”
“Ran and Con are both top-tier lyricists; putting them together over my production is next-level pure madness…pure chaos” V Don adds.
Ransom, Conway The Machine & V Don’s Chaos Is My Ladder 2 is now available!
Conway the Machine and Ransom were getting some fans hopeful over this past weekend. Two of New York’s underground greats, along with producer V Don and Lloyd Banks, dropped a posse cut, “Higher Killer”. The single is dark and intense, and of course features great rapping from all three MCs. During its release, neither artist involved mentioned anything about it being a lead off track. However, if you were checking out the Genius page for it, it was saying that “Higher Killer” was off a project.
It was listed under Chaos Is My Ladder Too, a collab tape between Ransom, Conway, and V Don. Fans were wondering if this was actually the start to a project roll out last Friday. Now, those suspicions are confirmed, according to HipHopDX. Ransom shared a joint Instagram post with the Griselda affiliate on the main feed with a revealing caption and image. The official cover consists of intimidating black and white portraits of the two rappers.
It’s easily one of the coldest covers of the year. But Ransom wasn’t done spilling details. According to the caption, fans don’t have to wait hardly any longer for Chaos Is My Ladder Too. “Chaos Is My Ladder with @whoisconway The MACHINE & @vdonsoundz the Dark WIZARD FRIDAY!!!!”. To be clear that is this week, September 6. Everyone, including us, is clearly ready for this to happen as evidenced by all of the “” in the comments section.
What are your thoughts on Ransom and Conway the Machine dropping a project together? Is this going to be one of the best underground hip-hop records of the year? Have you been messing with the lead single, “Higher Killer”? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Ransom and Conway the Machine. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Benny the Butcher is part of a long line of New York rap cliques. Griselda took the music world by storm in the 2020s, thanks in no small part to Benny’s gritty rhymes and intricate wordplay. He helped to spark a movement alongside Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine. Benny is no stranger to the cliques who came before, however. The Buffalo rapper has praised the likes of Dipset and G-Unit in the past, but he felt the need to single out one artist in particular during a recent Instagram Story: Lloyd Banks.
50 Cent was the head honcho of G-Unit, but Benny told fans that Lloyd Banks was the real unsung talent of the outfit. “Lloyd Banks, one of the top n**gas ever,” Benny the Butcher stated. “That’s one rap n**ga that n**gas don’t wanna play with.” The praise didn’t end there. The rapper claimed that Lloyd Banks was unrivaled when it came to “bars” and inventing clever turns of phrase. “He got a million lines,” he added. “You be like, ‘How the f*ck I didn’t think of that.’” The praise makes perfect sense, given that Benny has worked with Banks before. They were two of the rappers featured on the Griselda posse cut “Element of Surprise.” Benny and Banks also linked up for the 2022 single “Living Proof.”
The admiration that Benny the Butcher has for the G-Unit rapper is not one-sided. Lloyd Banks hopped on social media (a rarity) in 2022 to praise the Griselda album WWCD. He posted the artwork and track list for the album, along with the message: “Shout to the griselda family. New Album out now WWCD sh*t is [fire emoji] and the production is incredible.” The rapper has undergone a critical reappraisal in the last few years, partially due to the attention he’s gotten from Griselda. He told Billboard that he was grateful to be in the position he’s in. He then likened himself to former Lox rapper Jadakiss.
“They make these boxes with certain artists like me and Jadakiss,” Banks told the outlet in 2022. “We haven’t been pushed out of them boxes. I don’t know what you want to attribute that to, but I’m grateful we passed the test of time.” The rapper also noted that he’s going to continue to put distance between him and his peers as he gets older and refines his craft. “Moving forward, I feel like my subject matter alone is gonna put me in a different stratosphere,” he asserted. “I care more about my sh*t than anybody else does.” Hard to argue with him or Benny.
What happens when great isn’t good enough anymore? That’s what every Griselda affiliate has asked themself for the past few years, as the collective’s consistent releases and knack for lyricism and gritty production resulted in lots of acclaim and some mild reception. Conway The Machine might be the most salient example of this right now, who followed up the excellent God Don’t Make Mistakes in 2022 with the expectedly solid WON’T HE DO IT in 2023. With Slant Face Killah, he continues to suffer a similar fate.
Conway The Machine is combating his own prime: even meeting half of that quality would still overshadow many pens, production aesthetics, and artistic approaches in the rap game today. On this album, the Buffalo MC retreads old territory to the point of exhaustion, and also, backtracks on the skill that we expect across the board. It puts pressure on the next move to show a bit of evolution or quality control.
After a dramatic, short intro (“Despertar”), “Mutty” kicks things off with a dusty Conductor Williams beat, of which there are two more on Slant Face Killah. Other production mainstays include Daringer, Camoflauge Monk, Beat Butcha, and legends like Cool & Dre and Swizz Beatz, along with more potentially surprising names like Cardo, Don Cannon, and Cubeatz. In the record’s first half, Conway The Machine showcases grimy and piano-heavy boom-bap that he murders with such conviction. “Give & Give” brings more luxury with a complex rhyme scheme and soulful vocal samples, whereas “Karimi” shifts the album’s closing moments to a woozy and chunky place with mechanical percussion and synth pads.
Still, Slant Face Killah often stays in the same place production-wise for any given track’s entire runtime. Other times, the instrumental rewinds the clock in less flattering ways, such as the trite keys, lyrics, refrains, and trap hi-hats on “Dasani” that not even a solid Conway The Machine flow could save. The very next track, “Raw!,” ironically tributes Big Daddy Kane while almost venturing into rage territory. While La Máquina flows well on it, it feels like a translation of a boom-bap beat to a trap one rather than fully embracing some of the latter style’s more distinct qualities.
“Griselda Records, I should be the logo,” Conway The Machine raps on “Kin Xpress” with Larry June. On Slant Face Killah, the 42-year-old’s pen remains sharp, vivid, confident, boisterous, murderous, self-aware, and focused. “Milano Nights, Pt. 1” easily has the best quotable on the LP with “I’ll do a drive-by to André 3000’s flute album,” a distilled duality that oddly speaks to the appeal of his music. Much of the rest, such as, “You writing sixteens, I’m like JK Rowling’s four-hundred eighty-eight page novel” on “Surf & Turf,” is as hard as it is indicative of his talents.
Alas, Conway The Machine can’t escape some cringe bars here and there: Twitch and Adin Ross on “Ninja Man” and how his girl’s fancy whip makes her feel like Khloe “Car-That-She-In.” Actually, there’s a specific inflection point that makes this more obvious. By the time we hit “Ten” with Key Glock, not only does Conway’s flow get washed by Glizock on a trap instrumental, but his wordplay and topical focuses just either recycle or become less captivating on impact. It’s hard to keep up a high level across the board here, especially when featured guests break up the pattern.
Unsurprisingly great features from Method Man on “Meth Back!,” Joey Bada$$ on “Vertino,” and others like Ab-Soul, Jay Worthy, and Stove God Cooks really match him on the passion, the hunger, and the effort. Regardless, it would’ve been nice to see some more overt chemistry between them and Conway The Machine. For example, Tech N9ne underwhelms on Slant Face Killah beyond intricate rhymes, and Rya Maxwell’s bizarre cadence and boring beat selection make it feel like you put on a completely different album.
Some tracks overstay their welcome, such as the overlong intro to the “Rya Interlude” and extended outros on multiple cuts across Slant Face Killah‘s tracklist. The attempts to switch styles or stretch out some beats weren’t polished or intent-driven like previous albums in his discography. That being said, since the verses and instrumentals are mostly impressive, this is more of a retrospective issue, not something that incessantly interrupts the album experience.
For the most part, Slant Face Killah is still a very worthy album in Conway’s catalog; it’s just in some small but important Griselda details that it falters. When there’s so much quality to go through, it makes these crevices look like caverns. Whereas other Griselda affiliates or “type artists” like Boldy James benefit from knowing their lane and quality standard, Conway The Machine’s capable of doing everything under the sun from lyrical onslaughts to commercial crossovers and topical depth, so why wouldn’t he want to push himself beyond this lane?
Fortunately, the closing track on here stuns. While “The Red Moon In Osaka” is not necessarily a perfect pen performance, The Alchemist’s evolutionary and layered sample flip, plus Raekwon’s monologued advice to “stay on the come-up,” provides the most emotionally distinct, compelling, and unique track on Slant Face Killah. You don’t read the bars: you feel them. That’s the secret sauce that this album didn’t spread evenly, and one that’s hard to impress fans with at this point. So shock us on the next LP, Conway: you earned our undivided attention long ago.
Conway the Machine assembled the Avengers for his brand-new album Slant Face Killah (SFK). His fourth studio album, and follow-up to WON’T HE DO IT, was rumored to be the side B of the latter. However, the prolific Buffalo-bred rapper decided to come through with a separate entity and it has been one of the stronger releases of the year. One cut that Conway the Machine provided on this LP that we have been spinning again and again is “Meth Back!”
This one of many tracks that boasts some incredible guest talent. Based on the title, you might have been able to guess that Wu-Tang legend Method Man was a feature. That assumption would be correct, but he is not the only G.O.A.T. joining Conway. Underground vets Flee Lord and SK Da King pop up for one the nastiest old school hip-hop tracks of 2024.
Listen To “Meth Back!” By Conway The Machine, Method Man, SK Da King, & Flee Lord
Instrumental alone, this track is incredible. Daringer, fellow Buffalo resident and in-house producer for Griselda, lays down a simple but effective beat. The ghostly woodwind loop on top of the dirty drums is a lethal combination. Then, we you add in everyone’s terrific pen game and intimidating cadence, it is a recipe for straight gas. It is hard to pick who had the best outing, but Meth’s might take the cake for us.
What are your thoughts on this brand-new song “Meth Back!” by Conway the Machine, Method Man, SK Da King, and Flee Lord? Where does this track rank amongst the rest on Slant Face Killah (SFK)? Who had the stronger performance on this cut? Where do you place this tape in his discography and why? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Conway the Machine, Method Man, Flee Lord, and SK Da King. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Quotable Lyrics:
My block sell dope, I’m a product of my environment The work I’m supplyin’ y’all just workers providin’ ’em Drumwork for headshots like early retirement I earn my title through lack of early entitlement ‘Til I was titled rich, I ain’t even know what entitled meant That’s wordplay, find my best words on my worst day
NOVEMBER 1ST
BENNY THE BUTCHER
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