With work on the boards from West Coast legend Divine Styler, Ryu dropped this gem of an album to little or no fanfare. Almost 20 years later Ryu surprises with Tanks For The Memories. You may know Ryu as one-quarter of Styles Of Beyond, a Los Angeles crew who dropped an underground classic in 1998 with their debut album 2000 Fold. Tanks For The Memories is the most slept-on album of 2016. FLYGOD is an important and hugely influential release, and one of 2016’s best. His fellow Griseldians Conway The Machine (WSG’s brother) and Benny The Butcher (their cousin) make appearances, along with the likes of Keisha Plum, Your Old Droog, Meyhem Lauren, Danny Brown, Mach Hommy, Skyzoo, and Action Bronson. Fortunately, on FLYGOD he doesn’t go crazy yet with his gimmicky gun-sounds adlibs (on later WSG releases these adlibs start to get really irritating), and the guest rappers on this project make sure there’s enough variation. Westside Gunn is an emcee who you either like or you don’t like – his high-pitched voice is an acquired taste. A hard as nails release filled with uncompromising rhymes and a street essence, arguably re-pioneered by Roc Marciano with albums like Marcberg (2010) and Reloaded (2012). This is the project that started getting Griselda its proper buzz, FLYGOD is the epitome of what the label is about. The gritty stripped-down 90s throwback aesthetic that would become Griselda’s forte, is done to perfection on FLYGOD. Production by the likes of Daringer, The Alchemist, Apollo Brown, Camouflage Monk, Tha God Fahim, Statik Selektah on this project is simply awesome. FLYGOD is Griselda head-honcho Westside Gunn’s debut studio album.
0 kommentar(er)
