Last year, after years of waiting, the hard-as-hell Buffalo rap crew Griselda finally dropped their Shady Records debut WWCD. It was remarkable how little they'd changed. On WWCD, the three Griselda members -- brothers Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine, as well as their cousin Benny The Butcher -- rapped hard and violent shit-talk over grimy, discordant beats. And while Griselda might not be ascending the the center of rap music, they've since become cult stars -- big enough to command a Fallon performance and a Hype Williams video. So it's cool that they don't seem to be changing the way they operate.
Consider: Griselda member Conway, the heaviest and most forbidding member of the crew, has just thrown a loose track up on SoundCloud, just as he used to do, and it's as grimy as anyone might hope. Over a hazy guitar-chop from regular producer Daringer, Conway talks triumphant: "I just pulled the new Mercedes out/ And that's just off the money from features, that ain't from Shady clout."
The track also brings back a key Griselda element that was sadly missing on WWCD: Unclearable samples of historic pro wrestling promos! "Sign Language" gets its title from its ending, as Stone Cold Steve Austin stomps a verbal mudhole in somebody's ass and a late-'90s crowd reacts with absolute shocked delight at the sight of a middle finger. Listen to the track below.
WWCD is out now on Shady Records. Here's to ya.
