Conway the Machine

Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2021 So Far

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Certified bangers from Drake, Tyler, The Creator, J. Cole and more. Continue reading…

Method Man, Griselda, And More Deliver A Gritty DMX Tribute At The 2021 BET Awards

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It was Method Man who kicked off the the DMX tribute on the 2021 BET Awards, rapping an acapella rendition of one of DMX’s most beloved verses. Then, Griselda Records took the stage to perform a snippet of their new song with DMX, “Hood Blues,” before a succession of X’s contemporaries and admirers, including actor Michael K. Williams, Busta Rhymes, and his own Ruff Ryders crew, including Jadakiss of The LOX, channeled his gritty energy to perform some of his biggest hits like “Ruff Ryders Anthem” and “Party Up.”

DMX passed away earlier this year after an accidental overdose. He was in a coma for a week, during which his contemporaries and fans in the hip-hop world shared an outpouring of well-wishes. Eventually, after he’d passed, it was announced that Def Jam, the label where he’d released groundbreaking classics like It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot, Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood, and And Then There Was X…, put out his posthumous album Exodus, which was named for his son.

Meanwhile, his funeral was held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, with Def Jam footing the bill, where his casket was brought in on a monster truck, and the service featured performances from his daughter (who sang her own rendition of his song “Slippin’”) and the Kanye West Sunday Service choir. DMX’s longtime collaborator Swizz Beatz gave an impassioned eulogy, imploring the assembled mourners to “learn how to celebrate each other while we’re here.”

Watch the 2021 BET Awards tribute to DMX above.

Conway The Machine’s ‘Scatter Brain’ Video With JID And Ludacris Gets Down To Business

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Griselda Records’ Conway The Machine is fresh off the release of his new project La Maquina, dropping off the video for its lead single “Scatter Brain” with ATLiens JID and Ludacris. The three rappers menace the camera as they spit rapid-fire verses full of pummeling punchlines. While Conway plays mob boss behind a desk right out of a classic gangster film, JID and Luda do damage in the dimly lit warehouse from their Tonight Show performance of the track surrounded by razor wire and concrete blocks representing their sharp flows and brick-dense witticisms.

Conway and Griselda have maintained their breakneck from 2020, appearing on “Hood Blues” from the late DMX’s posthumous album Exodus, with fellow members Benny The Butcher releasing his Harry Fraud-produced The Plugs I Met 2 project featuring 2 Chainz and Chinx, and Westside Gunn preparing to release his latest Hilter Wears Hermes installment, the eighth in the series.

Meanwhile, JID recently gave an update on the status of his own new music, sharing photos with some of his collaborators on social media, and is preparing to appear at Dreamville’s On The Rocks concert in Colorado. You can catch Ludacris in theaters in the new Fast and Furious film F9 June 25 and rapping on the remix of Justin Bieber’s hit single “Peaches” with Snoop Dogg and Usher.

Watch Conway The Machine, JID, and Ludacris’ “Scatter Brain” video above.

Fabolous Hits The Studio W/ Conway The Machine + Griselda

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New York rapper Fabolous knows great music when he hears it. Unfortunately Loso doesn’t hit the volume button on his new Instagram Story clip showing himself in a recording studio with a mystery guest. It doesn’t take long before Fab reveals he’s kicked back and chilling with Griselda’s Conway The Machine. You can quickly tell […]

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DMX And Griselda’s Benny, Conway, And Westside Gunn Get Busy On ‘Hood Blues’

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Fans of gritty, ultraviolent New York rap rejoice. DMX‘s long-awaited track with the members of Griselda Records, “Hood Blues,” has arrived and it doesn’t disappoint. Opening with a slinky, sinister kick-snare combo and the signature ad-libs of its primary performers — X’s growl and Gunn’s tongue-trilling automatic rifle effects — the new track hearkens back to an era when visiting the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time could result in some pretty unpleasant experiences.

With “Hood Blues” providing a guidepost to the sound of X’s upcoming posthumous album Exodus, fans now have a better idea of what to expect from the Swizz Beatz-produced project, which X’s longtime collaborator played in full for a select group of DJs and fellow industry pros during a private listening session on Zoom last week.

It’s certainly vintage-sounding DMX material, built around a sample of Lee Mason & His Orchestra’s “Shady Blues” and recalling Swizz’s more recent, stripped-down work more so than the raucous, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink synth approach he used earlier in his career. If Exodus continues in the same vein of “Hood Blues,” then it should satisfy longtime X fans and newcomers alike — and, on a personal note, I can’t wait to hear Jay-Z and Nas on a beat in this style, which could bring out the latent chemistry they’ve only rarely been able to tap into.

Listen to “Hood Blues” above. Exodus is out 5/28 on Def Jam.

Conway The Machine, JID, And Ludacris Share An Eerie Performance Of ‘Scatter Brain’ On ‘The Tonight Show’

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After years of releasing mixtapes, Conway The Machine shared his official debut last fall with From King To A God. Just like the rest of the Griselda members, Conway wasted no time getting back to work as he returned with another project, La Maquina, in April. The eleven-track effort was highlight by features from Ludacris, JID, 2 Chainz, El Camino along with fellow Griselda acts Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn. Just a little over a month removed from sharing La Maquina, Conway took his talents to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform one of the album’s tracks.

Sliding through with Ludacris and JID by his side, Conway took the late-night TV stage to perform “Scatter Brain.” The track is a favorite from La Maquina and the performance itself made for the rapper’s national television debut. The trio delivered their slick-lipped rhymes while pacing around an eerie stage that contained disconnected televisions, barbed wire, and floor-grazing smoke.

During a recent interview on Apple Music, Conway shared when fans could expect his next project.

“That should be coming out this summer. Like, June or July, and I’m excited,” he said. “We had to go through the channels I had to go through a lot of the stuff that had sample issues, and we couldn’t get some stuff cleared. So, songs didn’t make it, that got put out early on other projects. We had to make other songs and stuff to make up for it. It was a process but it’s finally complete.”

You can watch the performance in the video above.

Conway The Machine Says Jay-Z Told Him He Isn’t Working On Any New Music

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Jay-Z’s 2021 has been filled with business moves from all corners of the world. The billionaire rapper has bought his way into new ventures and sold his way out of others. The various deals involved his champagne company Ace Of Spades, his streaming service Tidal, Los Angeles-based fitness company LIT Method, and NFT marketplace Bitski. Through it all, some hoped the rapper would also be working on a new album, one that would be the follow-up to his 2017 solo effort, 4:44. According to Conway The Machine, however, who says he recently spoke to Jay about the possibility of new music from him, that is not the case.

“I was asking him, I’m like, ‘Yo, you gonna record more? You been cooking up, what you doing?’” Conway said during an interview with Nadeska on Apple Music. “He actually was like, ‘nah man, I ain’t, I ain’t’ and he was saying the way he records is kinda like how I do it. It’s gotta be a vibe. Like, I gotta hear something, they gotta take me there, I gotta be experiencing something, I gotta do something.

“I’m just sitting there soaking up jewels, you know what I’m saying,” he added. “But that’s what it was like with Hov. I’m a listener, so, I’ma sit back and collect all the jewelry as I, as much as I can.”

You can listen to Conway The Machine’s interview on Apple Music here.

Weekend Recap: Conway The Machine On Griselda Gossip

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Answering the never-ending rumors that the Griselda collective is breaking up, Conway The Machine confirmed that everything is OK with the New York trio. Conway went on the “Ebro in the Morning” radio show to address social media speculation that he, Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn are going their separate ways. While their solo […]

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Conway The Machine Stops Griselda Breakup Rumors

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Answering the never-ending rumors that the Griselda collective is breaking up, Conway The Machine confirmed that everything is OK with the New York trio. Conway went on the “Ebro in the Morning” radio show to address social media speculation that he, Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn are going their separate ways. While their solo […]

The post Conway The Machine Stops Griselda Breakup Rumors appeared first on SOHH.com.