The former Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star received a lot of media attention from public events and recent issues on social media. Benzino takes to the mic on new single ZINO VS THE PLANET to detail thoughts on 50 Cent, Coi Leray, ex partner Althea Eaton and public criticism over comments,
Tag: shady records
Video Dope: Conway The Machine – Jesus Khrysis (Official Video)
Conway The Machine drops the official video for ‘Jesus Khrysis’ from, his ‘Audio Dope Award’ winning album, ‘From King To A GOD’!!!
The deluxe edition, with 5 new cuts, dropped today so, if you haven’t already, go grab a copy (BDL Album of the Year certified you know)!!!
Check the video here – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=68mxxmYPSfA&feature=share
Video Dope: Eminem – GNAT (Official Video)
Eminem returned with a new, 16 track, companion piece to his January release ‘Music To Be Murdered By’.
He also returned with a new video for the track ‘GNAT’.
Dope track, and video, but, truthfully, ‘MTBMB: Side B’ doesn’t quite hit as hard as ‘Side A’.
Anyway enjoy ‘GNAT’ here – https://youtu.be/EosMazKaPbU
On The Line: Griselda/Shady – The Biggest Winners and Losers.
Back in March 2017 Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine made history as the first Hip-Hop act, from Buffalo, to sign with a major label by signing with Shady Records.
The deal was huge for the underground duo and had a lot of great opportunities linked to it with, the main one being, a co-sign from on the cultures biggest artists Eminem.
Over 3 and a half years later Westside Gunn announced, on Joe Budden’s podcast, that he had officially left the label and would be concentrating on making Griselda Records even bigger going forward.
This news came at no surprise to Griselda fans as Gunn had been quite vocal of his disappointment with Shady’s dealings and, even more so, with Eminem’s assistance with his, and the Griselda collectives, releases through the label.
What we’ll be looking at here is who the biggest winners, and losers, of the deal are (or were in some instances).
Em hasn’t been the best label executive with the ball dropped on artists such as Obie Trice, Ca$his, Bobby Creekwater, Stat Quo and Slaughterhouse over the years.
So let’s get started with the winners first.
Winner: Mach-Hommy – An odd place to start for some but when you consider that Mach was with Griselda, when they signed the Shady deal, things could have been a lot different. If Shady didn’t really know how to work Gunn and Conway what on earth might they have done with Mach if he’d become a part of the Griselda group package?
Hommy left not long after the release of his ‘H.B.O’ album and has had a successful underground run, with Your Old Droog and Tha God Fahim, which has been noticed by Jay-Z, and others, over the years.
Winner: Benny The Butcher – Benny signed with Griselda, after there deal with Shady, and eventually joined as 1/3 of the Griselda group however the one thing Benny didn’t do was sign a solo deal which, in the long run, was a smart move from the head of Black Soprano Family.
Signing, along with Gunn, a management deal with Roc Nation meant that he could remain completely independent while receiving assistance from the Roc.
This paid off well for the Butcher as his, Hit-Boy produced, album ,’Burden of Proof’, became Griselda’s highest chart entry on the Billboard 200.
Winner: Paul Rosenberg – Eminem’s long time manager, Paul Rosenberg, is really the one who gave Gunn, Conway and Griselda there first exposure by offering them a deal in the first place.
Paul’s always taken time to personally invest in them on his Twitter and has proven he has an ear for talent.
If a perfect world, during his time heading up Def Jam, he would have snapped them up there and things might have been different.
You have to remember that Paul is 50% owner of Shady with the other 50% being in the hands of someone who doesn’t know what to do with certain artists.
Now let’s look at the losers.
Loser: Westside Gunn – Gunn’s debut album ‘Who Made The Sunshine’ dropped with some promo from Shady however it was Eminem that really dropped the ball with this one.
He retweeted Alchemist’s ‘Food Villain’ album instead of an album that came out on his label? Doesn’t make any sense at all (despite some Shady fans trying to justify it with some pure stupidity).
Gunn also expressed his annoyance with the label not acknowledging the groups nomination for a BET Award, last year, which, again, makes sense as why would the label you’re signed too not highlight an accomplishment you’ve made?
Gunn’s dropped numerous albums, and mixtapes, since 2017 (independently we should mention) that have been well received and in which physical copies have sold out in mere minutes, through Daupe!, which leaves the question why Shady did’nt capatilise on this and drop CD’s, Vinyl and Tapes?
Gunn only loses because this leaves more questions than actual answers.
Loser: Conway The Machine – Probably the worst victim of the Griselda/Shady deal is The Machine.
As Gunn’s now off Shady that just leaves Conway who would have seen the treatment of Gunn’s solo album, and Griselda’s ‘WWCD’, go down the river with little promotion from the label or it’s head (Eminem in this case).
This leaves his debut with them, ‘God Doesn’t Make Mistakes’, a bit of a lost cause as everyone knows it’ll get the same treatment as Griselda’s last two projects which is a shame as it’s sounding like it could be a classic.
Cryptic tweets have also left people wondering if he’s having issues with Shady as well but they could also indicate that there could be problems in the Griselda household too which, let’s be honest, would be certainly down to Shady.
Conway is also a big fan of Eminem’s but recently, he’s expressed his distaste for ‘Stans’ and how they view him, and the rest of the camp, so that’s not going to help things either.
Loser: Eminem – I think it’s important to clarify that when we speak of ‘Shady’, and the treatment of Griselda, the aim is more at Eminem, and less at Paul, as honestly Paul has done a lot more for them then Em has.
As noted above, about Alchemist’s album, it seems like Em just supports guys he likes and has no real understanding of running a label.
If Em wasn’t that bothered about them in the first place he should have just said it to Paul at the time. By signing them (which both Em and Paul would have agreed upon) you’re co-signing them (which Em did by appearing on the intro of ‘Machine Gun Black’).
Fact is Shady is (or should be) Eminem’s baby, gifted to him from Interscope, after the success of ‘The Slim Shady LP, but his interest was more into ‘putting on’ his friends than actual artists outside of his circle.
With the exception of D-12 and 50 Cent (which was a 50/50 deal with Dr. Dre don’t forget) it’s clear to see Eminem has no clue how to run a label or really support the artists signed to it.
If he can’t even be bothered to drop a tweet saying ‘New Westside Gunn go support that’ then what’s the point in heading up you’re own label?
Other artists, that run there own labels, (e.g. – Rick Ross with Maybach Music) promote albums on both there label, and own personal platforms, as it makes financial sense to do so.
All in all the Griselda/Shady deal hasn’t been a good one but it did introduce people to Griselda, and there sound, which has changed the culture but feelings are they could have just done that on there own or with all three signing management deals with Roc Nation thus remaining independent while receiving assistance elsewhere.
Guess we’re just going to have to see how the roll out with Conway’s Shady debut works out and what happens afterwards.
Audio Dope: Westside Gunn – Who Made The Sunshine (iTunes Stream)
Westside Gunn signed with Shady Records, alongside his brother Conway The Machine, back in March 2017 and since then have been flooding the industry with nothing but classics!!!
Since our introduction to Gunn and Conway on the outstanding, Just Blaze produced, ‘Machine Gun Black’ we’ve known these guys were special and were going to change the culture for years to come.
Well, after 3 and a half years, (and nearly a year on from Griselda’s Shady debut ‘WWCD’) Gunn has finally reached the mountain top of his phenomenal career with, his major label debut, ‘Who Made The Sunshine’.
The album is packed full of amazing features including his Griselda label mates Conway, Benny The Butcher, Boldy James, Armani Caesar and Keisha Plum as well as legends such as Busta Rhymes, Black Thought, Jadakiss and Slick Rick (TWICE!).
Also, not to forget, a nice spotlight on newer artists such as Stove God Cook$, ElCamino, Estee Nack, Flee Lord and Smoke DZA.
Production is mostly handled by Daringer and Beat Butcha but also includes Just Blaze, Conductor Williams and Alchemist.
Throw in extra support, with backing, from Roc Nation and you’ve got a project with classic written all over it.
As fans of Gunn, and everything he’s contributed to the culture, this really is a shining moment for real Hip-Hop and we all applaud Gunn for everything he has given us.
All praises due to the only and only FlyGod!!!
Stream the album here – Westside Gunn – Who Made The Sunshine (iTunes)
VIDEO DOPE: Royce Da 5’9″ – L.A Leakers Freestyle #100.
Hot off the release of his amazing new album, ‘The Allegory’, Royce Da 5’9″ dropped by the L.A Leakers ‘Lift Off Show’, on Power 106, to deliver a dazzling 10 minute freestyle that shows the world why Royce is considered one of the best MC’s in game…FULL STOP!!!
The veteran MC drops nothing but gems displaying intelligence, and swagger, throughout for the L.A Leakers 100th freestyle!!!
100% bars!!!
VIDEO DOPE: Griselda x Charlie Sloth – Fire in The Booth
We’re going to keep this one short and simple people!!!
Griselda x Charlie Sloth x Fire in the Booth…THAT’S IT!!!
If you need more info please dislike the R.A.W Media page and never visit this site again!!!
THIS IS FOR THE CULTURE!!!
Enjoy!!!
AUDIO DOPE: Eminem – Yah Yah (feat. Royce Da 5’9″, Black Thought, Q-Tip & Denaun) (Stream)
Last Friday Marshall Mather’s unleashed his most ‘Hip-Hop’ album since his early days in the form of, the Alfred Hitchcock inspired, ‘Music To Get Murdered By’!!!
The standout track, for us at least, is the phenomenal ‘Yah Yah’ featuring Royce Da 5’9″, Black Thought, Q-Tip & Denaun!!!
Mr. Porter delivers a crazy beat (complete with a head nodding Busta Rhymes sample on the hook) that has everyone on the track bringing there A game to the table!!!
The beauty of this track is it doesn’t even sound like an Eminem song with it’s flawless production and skill set!!! It’s underground Hip-Hop to the fullest!!!
Em is at his best alongside MC’s who test him and Royce and Black Thought are lyrical murderers so this was going to be Slim’s greatest challenge!!!
Royce had a short, but sweet, verse and Thought was given mad time to flex (pun not intended) like he was back on Hot97 to, again, show why he’s one of the GOAT’s!!!
Also Tip’s hook just adds that dope vibe to truly prove that Shady can do real Hip-Hop when in the right company!!!
Stream ‘Yah Yah’, and the whole album, here – Eminem – Music To Be Murdered By (iTunes Stream)
AUDIO DOPE: Westside Gunn ‘Hitler Wears Hermes 7’ and Earl Sweatshirt ‘Feet Of Clay’ (Stream)
In the week that Kanye West dropped his long awaited (and delayed) album ‘Jesus is King’ we’ve decided to highlight new projects from WSG and Earl Sweatshirt instead!!!
Why, I hear you ask, well because Yeezy’s attempt at making Christian Hip-Hop mainstream was awful and these releases represent the culture!!!
Ye’s heart might have been in the right place but the end result had Mr West releasing the worst album of his career (‘Ye’ your officially off the hook)!!!
Now back to more, pure, Hip-Hop related ish, Shady/Roc Nation signee, WSG’s ‘HWH7’ is stacked with top guests, and producers, including Fat Joe, Curren$y, DJ Drama, Boldy James, DJ Green Lantern, Alchemist and, of course, Conway and Benny!!!
As for Earl’s new EP it has a feature from Mach-Hommy on it and it’s the follow up to his, super dope, ‘Some Rap Songs’ album so we’re sold based on those points alone!!!
As for Ye better luck next time!!!
Stream both projects here –
AUDIO DOPE: Nas – Queensbridge Politics/Conway The Machine – Bang (feat. Eminem)
Another double up people!!!
Nas recently dropped the follow up to his, 2002, classic ‘The Lost Tapes’ compilation featuring a bunch of cuts that were intended for projects such as ‘Hip-Hop is Dead’, ‘Untitled’, ‘Life is Good’ and ‘NASIR’!!!
The end result is a mixed bunch. Not a bad project just not on par with the first ‘Lost Tapes’ (or even ‘NASIR’! Yeah we said it!). Even with production from Swizz Beatz, Kanye West, RZA, and others, it doesn’t quite hit the mark!!!
One track that does stand out is the Pete Rock produced, Prodigy tribute, ‘Queensbridge Politics’!!!
The simple, yet effective, track has Nas in reflective mode about QB’s history and his wish to have gotten things straight with Prodigy before he passed. Pete Rock again proves why he’s one of the greatest, on the boards, on this one!!!
Next up is Conway The Machine’s new single (and official debut on Interscope/Shady), ‘Bang’, featuring a guest verse from, Shady boss, Eminem!!!
Daringer and Beat Butcha share production duties on this one as Conway does what Conway does best…talk that grimy street shit! Eminem digs up Canibus and Ja Rule to murder them again (if they weren’t dead enough already) with a pretty dope verse that continues Marshall’s decent run of recent guest appearances!!!
Doesn’t seem like Shady are going to attempt to water down Griselda (Well too much! Em’s verse does switch the beat a bit to fit him a bit more!) which is good news for fans of the GxFR brand!!!
Overall it does get us excited for Griselda’s ‘W.W.C.D’ and Conway’s ‘God Don’t Make Mistakes’ projects!!!