Westside Gunn

An underdog from the underground, Buffalo-bred rapper Westside Gunn brings the sounds of '90s hardcore rap into the 21st century alongside his brother and fellow emcee <a href="spotify:artist:67gqUXxHedeUGDTxwBzdjS">Conway</a>. With their tales of street life, drugs, and gun violence, the pair have employed sample-heavy production in the gritty East Coast tradition of <a href="spotify:artist:0A7g2YbCA9FlyZvAG6VmKP">the Lox</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6O2zJ0tId7g07yzHtX0yap">Mobb Deep</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6KVPfr3ujUkKOrJf4QeRWD">Capone-N-Noreaga</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:34EP7KEpOjXcM2TCat1ISk">the Wu-Tang Clan</a>. In addition to his work with <a href="spotify:artist:67gqUXxHedeUGDTxwBzdjS">Conway</a> and their <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Griselda%22">Griselda</a> labelmates, Westside Gunn branched out on his own with a series of Hitler Wears Hermes mixtapes issued in the 2010s, as well as solo albums such as Flygod (2016), Supreme Blientele (2018), and Pray for Paris (2020), the latter of which cracked the upper half of the Billboard 200. The lengthy, guest-heavy full-length And Then You Pray for Me appeared in 2023 and reached the Top 30 of the same chart. The EP 11 and a mixtape, Still Praying, were released almost simultaneously in 2024.

Born Alvin Lamar Worthy in Buffalo, New York, Westside Gunn started rapping at a young age. In high school, he joined with <a href="spotify:artist:67gqUXxHedeUGDTxwBzdjS">Conway</a> (born Demond Price) and fellow rappers <a href="spotify:artist:5Matrg5du62bXwer29cU5T">Benny the Butcher</a> and Machine Gun Black as the Forerunners. They stuck together over the years and in the early 2010s, they founded <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Griselda+Records%22">Griselda Records</a>. In addition to output as Westside Gunn & Conway, Worthy began issuing his own mixtapes, including the Hitler Wears Hermes series, which kicked off in 2012. With his strong, steady rhymes and often laid-back production, he released five installments of the Hermes series into 2017.

His debut studio full-length, Flygod, arrived in 2016 and featured appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:5Matrg5du62bXwer29cU5T">Benny</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:67gqUXxHedeUGDTxwBzdjS">Conway</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5X0V59ipZnbvnubW0rQVri">Roc Marciano</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7aA592KWirLsnfb5ulGWvU">Danny Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7BMccF0hQFBpP6417k1OtQ">Action Bronson</a>, and more, as well as production by <a href="spotify:artist:5v0XTlB9FqNvfBfnw8n5b0">Statik Selektah</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0eVyjRhzZKke2KFYTcDkeu">the Alchemist</a>. In 2017, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Griselda%22">Griselda</a> inked a deal with <a href="spotify:artist:7dGJo4pcD2V6oG8kP0tJRR">Eminem</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shady+Records%22">Shady Records</a>, which graduated Westside Gunn to the majors. That same year, he hopped onto a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:2pAWfrd7WFF3XhVt9GooDL">MF Doom</a> titled WestsideDoom, and a year later he issued his sophomore LP, Supreme Blientele, which featured many familiar faces from Flygod, as well as new guests <a href="spotify:artist:5pnbUBPifNnlusY8kTBivi">Jadakiss</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1YfEcTuGvBQ8xSD1f53UnK">Busta Rhymes</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3jK9MiCrA42lLAdMGUZpwa">Anderson .Paak</a>, and producers <a href="spotify:artist:3BeQqzKdlARoOd6y30kCO2">Pete Rock</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4s8ZGMVf3OiPktSP4ulpqU">9th Wonder</a>.

After <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Griselda%22">Griselda</a> hit the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop and rap charts with WWCD, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Westside%22">Westside</a> issued the solo album Pray for Paris in April 2020. <a href="spotify:artist:6GEykX11lQqp92UVOQQCC7">DJ Premier</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7pDkjftAxiFHomWsPNkapS">DJ Muggs</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0eVyjRhzZKke2KFYTcDkeu">the Alchemist</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4V8LLVI7PbaPR0K2TGSxFF">Tyler, The Creator</a> were among the contributors to the set, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 67 and the R&B/hip-hop chart at 39. A second Gunn album, Who Made the Sunshine, was initially set for release that August, but it was delayed following the death of longtime <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Griselda+Records%22">Griselda Records</a> collaborator <a href="spotify:artist:3iIhjnMqUjm7a2bdNQHPq7">DJ Shay</a> from COVID-19. The album eventually appeared in October 2020 and featured appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:5Matrg5du62bXwer29cU5T">Benny</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:67gqUXxHedeUGDTxwBzdjS">Conway</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1W9qOBYRTfP7HcizWN43G1">Slick Rick</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6DJEUXZm0e2rAohdoZ5Voo">Black Thought</a>, and others. Two tracks, "Julia Lang" and "TV Boy," arrived in March 2021 as the first songs released off Gunn's mixtape Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely, Adolf. Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B followed. The mixtapes Peace "Fly" God and 10 (the final installment in the Hitler Wears Hermes series) appeared in 2022. The studio album And Then You Pray for Me arrived in 2023, boasting guests like <a href="spotify:artist:1sBkRIssrMs1AbVkOJbc7a">Rick Ross</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5oNgAs7j5XcBMzWv3HAnHG">DJ Drama</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6fxyWrfmjcbj5d12gXeiNV">Denzel Curry</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4fpwOzxFRMVGfd197dKIdY">Boldy James</a>. It reached number 29 on the Billboard 200. In 2024, Gunn issued the EP 11 as well as the <a href="spotify:artist:5oNgAs7j5XcBMzWv3HAnHG">DJ Drama</a>-hosted mixtape Still Praying. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi