Westside Gunn is a 36 year old rapper from Buffalo, New York who with his brother Conway have been hustling since the early 2000s. In 2016 though, the 2 finally found success with their label Griselda Records & they eventually signed to Shady Records together in the following year. But now just a little over a year after dropping his flawless sophomore album Supreme Blientele, he’s back with his 3rd full-length album & the sequel to his equally fantastic debut FLYGOD.
The album starts off with “Jul 27th”, which is mostly a spoken word piece from Raekwon over some synthesizers. The next song “Sensational Sherri” with Benny sees the 2 about living what he raps over a sinister beat while the track “Bautista” gets confrontational over a piano-inflicted boom bap beat. The song “Lunchin’” gets mafioso over a luscious beat & while the song “Ferragamo Funeral” gets murderous over a soulful beat, it’s way too short. The song “1,000 Shot Mac” with Conway, Hologram & Meyhem Lauren sees the 2 talking about hustling over a classy sample & while I do like the chilled out beat on “Birkin”, Westside’s delivery does nothing for me.
The song “Pete Sake” has little to no Westside Gunn appearance at all, but Conway & Benny make it work as they deliver a raw prelude to their upcoming collab album. The track “Amherst Station 3” is a somber conclusion to the titular trilogy while the track “Dance Floor Love” is a soulful love tune that works better than I had expected. The penultimate track “Gunnlib” while brief makes me hope that Westside & Madlib do a whole album together in the future because their chemistry on here is flawless & then the album finishes off with “Lakers vs. Rockets”, where the FLYGOD brags over a gritty rap rock beat. However, the Sauce Walka feature is kinda vapid.
While I personally prefer the original FLYGOD, this sequel is definitely worth checking out. A few joints could’ve been stretched out a bit longer & a couple features I could’ve done without, but Westside’s vivid street bars remain & grimy production most definitely remain intact throughout it’s 32 minute runtime.
Score: 7/10
Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com