Friday Afternoon Rap Roundup: Westside Gunn

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New Release Highlight of the Week:

Westside Gunn, Still Praying (buy it / stream it) / 11 - EP (buy it / stream it)

From the Geto Boys' classic "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" to seminal Chicago drill drops like Chief Keef's Back from the Dead 2 and Fredo Santana's Trappin Ain't Dead, hip-hop and Halloween have some history together. These days, with the ease of digital dissemination, rappers apparently love to share new music on or around October 31. And this year, when it came to trick or treating, nobody was quite so generous as Westside Gunn, sharing two projects in as many days. The first of these iss 11, an EP-length effort recorded in a single day that opens with the familiar bark of tragically departed DJ KaySlay. Despite its conspicuous release date, the only thing haunted about the project is Gunn himself, coping with both the death of his friend Big Dump and the lengthy incarceration of Buffalo's Sly Green. The latter's voice follows KaySlay's on the introductory "STONE," by way of a prison phone conversation. When Gunn starts rapping on "BIG DUMP BALLAD," a lush Denny Laflare production, the emotional weight is evident in his tone even before Griselda poet Keisha Plum shares her own artful eulogy. Amid the dedications, he revisits familiar topics and themes, but Green's scattered presence seems to bring out the artist's old ways in the best way on moments like "CAIN TEJADA."

That sense of loss doesn't entirely dissipate on his second record of the week, the comparatively more hopeful Day Of The Dead drop Still Praying. After spending so much of 2024 building his 4th Rope wrestling brand, Gunn melds his passion with his grief with the visage of WWF/WCW star Sid Eudy (R.I.P) on its cover. After the threnody of its immediate predecessor, this 14-track affair feels relatively lighter at first, with DJ Drama taking on formal hosting duties. He's in rare form here, luxuriating over "Beef Bar" and adding new signatures to his catalog like the exquisitely titled "Runway Pieces At The Last Supper." Apart from Buffalo representative Brother Tom Sos' solid verse on "Dr. Britt Baker," Still Praying backloads its guest list. Hall and Nash are back in action on the Conway-featured "Free Shots," mixing coke rap bars with lifestyle flexes with more panache than any kayfabe. A veritable royal rumble, Benny The Butcher, Boldy James, and Stove God Cooks join the duo with steel cage intensity on the set piece of a title track.

Here are some other new albums, EPs, and mixtapes from independent hip-hop/rap artists and labels worth your time this weekend:

Psalm One & Optiks, Is This A Safe Space? (buy it / stream it)

Big Moochie Grape, Eat Or Get Ate 2 (buy it / stream it)

Conductor Williams, Conductor We Have a Problem 3 (buy it / stream it)

Wahid, THEY ALL GO MAD! (buy it / stream it)

Vic Spencer & August Fanon, Psychological Cheat Sheet 5 (buy it / stream it)

The Fortunate Ones, RESIN (buy it / stream it)

Chuckyy, Bloodbath Vol. 1 (buy it / stream it)

Pablo Skywalkin, Pablo for President (buy it / stream it)

Spectacular Diagnostics, Appetites (buy it / stream it)

Jay Worthy & DJ.Fresh, The Tonite Show (buy it / stream it)

Sauce Walka & Sauce Gohan, ADA BOYZ (buy it / stream it)

Lloyd Banks, Halloween Havoc V (buy it / stream it)

Nacho Picasso, Milc, and TELEVANGEL, Montage Music (buy it / stream it)

Fly Anakin, Anakin & Friends: Episode 2 (buy it / stream it)

Zilla Rocca & Jason Griff, Don't Panic....There's More! (buy it / stream it)

Journeymen, s/t (buy it / stream it)