Review: "WWCD" Album by Griselda
When Conway the Machine said, “Let’s not change up our script, let’s not switch nothin’,” his brother and cousin could only nod in agreement. At least, that was the response you could surmise from how Griselda’s year has rolled out. Since the turn of the year, the street struck Buffalo trio has pushed out a combined, nine solo projects (perhaps more not visible on MSPs), earning them the adulation of hip-hop historians and others alike who harbor a nostalgic yearning for mid-90’s boom-bap. So when Wu-Tang’s Raekwon the Chef swears in the trio on their Shady Records debut, it feels less like an inaugural ceremony, and more like a torch-passing ritual. “I'm sittin' here seein' the demographics of what Griselda's about … [and] it's like a breath of fresh air.” Raekwon’s cosign is imbued with a collective, pent-up New York frustration to find successors to the city’s underground. Griselda has been working towards this day: taking the reins.
During each of their respective album onslaughts, Benny the Butcher, Westside Gunn, and Conway the Machine proclaimed and solidified a few things. One, a no-nonsense approach to music; their lyrics unconcerned with witty jests, their releases uninterested in the modern spectacle that roll-outs have become, and their unwavering gritty aesthetic. Two, an affinity for mafioso lore — the kind you’d see arise in Scorsese films, draped in Tacchini velour and putting fingers in mailboxes. And lastly, a desire to reach hip-hop’s highest peaks with Buffalo on their chests (the cover, a picture of Claire Mel, a notorious Buffalo crackhead). It would be naive of us to think that a group-wide Griselda project — especially one capping off their historic year — would be any different than those that preceded it.
In Griselda fashion, “WWCD” is powered by trigger-happy ad-libs, eerily spaced out beats, and contentious bars; all equally likely to make you shudder or compel you to issue your best Funkmaster Flex grrr. Gunn’s nasally speech can gain so much enraged momentum that he begins to stray from his preestablished flows. Conway, brother to Gunn, sticks to a sepulchral slur, focused on the lyrics at-hand and not much else. And Benny sits at the helm, dishing out an endless curriculum about how the streets are run these days, en vogue ebonics, and punchlines that leave bruises: “You gon' probably take a L if I lift this hand / Haters be your biggest fans, then they take the witness stand.”
The in-house production, handled by Daringer & Beat Butcha, evokes the anxiety of taking the alleyways home late-night. Smokestacks cloud your path, and feral cats begin to sound like the ghost of ODB on “Chef Dreds”. Take the wrong turn, and you end up duct taped to a chair on “DR BIRDS” with Benny threatening to “blow your whole frame to Pluto”. And yet, as grim and scarce as the beats are to begin with, the Griselda soldiers make a conscious effort to give no reprieve — the first distinguishable chorus arriving on track 10, “City On The Map” with 50 Cent. (That is, only if Gunn’s warbles of, “I blow your f****n' face off,” don’t receive your chorus credentials before hand.) Together, Griselda and their producers continue to cook up the most ominous strand of drug-rap to be found anywhere.
Even though “WWCD” doesn’t present new information, it does confirm this: the three-man weave of Gunn, Conway, and Benny is a deadly combination. After countless tapes, their recipe has been perfected. The result has left hip-hop royalty with stank faces and enough respect to endorse. The crown for New York’s underground feels closer than ever. But instead of a complicated heist, “WWCD” signals that they’re just going to take it with brute force.
Source [1]: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8530252/conway-interview-look-at-what-i-became
Source [2]: https://genius.com/Westside-gunn-undertaker-vs-goldberg-lyrics
Source [3]: https://youtu.be/7raCxqPq70c
Source [4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBYPULtmgRE
Source [5]: https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.53695/title.griseldas-wwcd-gives-jay-z-the-screw-face-during-preview-stream
TRACKLIST
1. "Marchello - Raekwon The Chef Intro" ft. Raekwon The Chef [Prod. Daringer & Beat Butcha]
2. "Chef Dreds" [Prod. Daringer & Beat Butcha] 🔥
Notable bars 🤩
Benny The Butcher:
I pull that gun up, you slippin', you better run it
Shells, those feel like oatmeal, they sit in your stomach
I came home and let back n*****s biddin' them numbers
I'm thinkin' 'bout which block that I'm killin' this summer
3. "Moselle" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
Notable bars 🤩
Benny The Butcher:
Ah, hand on my clip, we animals, dismantle my strip
I'm 5'8" but 6'11" if I stand on my bricks
I cancel y'all quick with the Glock I shoot cannonballs with
I sat in prison, walkin' the yard, just plannin' all this
4. "Cruiser Weight Coke" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
Notable bars 🤩
Benny The Butcher:
Ran it up 'cause I trap a lot, these n*****s know about the cash I got
But my plug still playin' broke, he in Old Navy in a Apple Watch
When I'm gettin' into fish weight I don't need bait or a tackle box
I'm a real dope boy, n***a, on my birthday I got a half a block
5. "Freddie HotSpot" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer] 🔥
Notable bars 🤩
Benny The Butcher:
I stayed in the suite for so long, I got mail at the Ritz
We bettin' on dice like the NFL on the strip
I run in the club, bump into plugs, I fell on a brick
Only Tom Brady get more rings than my telephone get
6. "DR BIRDS" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
Notable bars 🤩
Westside Gunn:
Cherry fifty-seven, in the 'Bach learnin' lessons
Crack ain't dry yet, it be ready in a second
Forty chains on, halo, I'm a god, n***a
Fear of God jogger rockin', n***a, I don't even jog
Benny The Butcher:
Yo, I gave cocaine to users, and okays to shooters
I'm cocky, vintage Versace with the stone face Medusas
Sopranos, and Margianos, we got gold-plated Rugers
This pistol'll backflip you and blow your whole frame to Pluto
…
These rappers wanna be trendy, they h**s wanna be friendly
But never, she wear Forever 21 like it's Fendi
I told that b***h it's Givenchy, she pronounce it "Givinchy"
She wanna f**k me and run through all my accounts 'til they empty
7. "The Old Groove" ft. Novel [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
8. "Scotties" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
Notable bars 🤩
Benny The Butcher:
I was there when them bricks was stamped, you was scared when them trips was planned
N***a, I can fit a whale in the big sedan
You gon' probably take a L if I lift this hand
Haters be your biggest fans, then they take the witness stand
9. "Kennedy" ft. Tiona Deniece [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
10. "City On The Map" ft. 50 Cent [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
11. "May Store" ft. Keisha Plum [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
12. "Lowery" [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]
13. "Bang - Remix" ft. Eminem [Prod. Beat Butcha & Daringer]