In this era of watered down mumble rap Hip Hop purists like myself, TKaey and many others- we thirst for something real, something authentic, something bursting with sheer talent in the rap world. I started digging. Digging in the mud and found this grimy rock. I cleaned it and polished it and low and behold… It was an enlarged diamond. That’s the feeling I got when I discovered Conway The Machine and the Griselda Records family. I dig this new album called Eif 2: Eat What You Kill.
I discovered Conway, WestSide Gunn and Benny The Butcher initially from listening another one of my favorite emcees name Skyzoo. One joint called “Basquiat on the Draw” on his Apollo Brown album caught my attention. It featured Con and West but oddly the credits labeled them as “various artists.” I was upset… like who are those cats? They go hard! It wasn’t until a few months later I heard that familiar muffled-sounding gritty voice on a Funk Master Flex radio mix. Shazam app helped me identify the 🔥 that lit my ears. It was Conway’s “Dead Bodies Left” off his Rejects On Steroids mixtape. I was highly disappointed in myself for not knowing who this was for that long. Thereafter I dug up all I could on those rap goons at Griselda. Griselda Records is a product of WestSide Gunn backed by Eminem’s Shady Records signing the indie label to a distribution deal.
Upon listening to the music as well as watching interviews they revealed Conway was shot in the face and neck which resulted in Bell’s Palsy. He had to learn to speak again, then how to rap again. According to his lyrics the tragedy drastically improved his rhyme skills. An impressive feat to return far superior from an adverse lifestyle growing up in Buffalo New York.
“And deep down I know that you cared for me. But mentally I needed you there for me. You ain’t got that much love for me apparently. You talk down on me in front of my son and embarrass me. I still remember what you said… N***a you over thirty all that rapping s**t is dead. You need to and find you a job and get you some bread. Ain’t you tired of being broke and sleeping at Dredd’s. That s**t stung me. I let it get to my head. Wanted to quit rapping but I went harder instead…”
Conway The Machine – “Be Proud of Me”
The ten track joint is a Hip Hop diamond in the rough! Simple slow tempo jazzy beat production (some by the legendary The Alchemist and Daringer.) Often, the hooks are optional in his music… Just uncut saw spit. I actually like that about their music. It’s so unconventional, it’s stark, it’s jarring- that its dope! Although I rock with the whole album here’s a few joints that stand out for me…
“Fentanyl” opens with a beast’s monstrous growl. That’s an ideal way to explain Conway’s flow. He’s a beast on the beat. A mean spit about drugs, guns, hits, and fly fashion among other topics. Outted by his signature signifying for those rhetorically.
“May Block” is a vicious pair of tales of how his hood corrupted himself and his younger protégé.
“Hide the Body” starts off with a sound bite from the classic TV series The Wire. The episode when Chris and Snoop tried to take out Avon at the Lake trout spot. The track features the beat bully Benny The Butcher. The hand-off flow between the duo in my opinion hasn’t been executed so eloquently since Jadakiss and Styles P from The Lox early days. This song is bananas!!
In “Be Proud of Me” Con spittin’ from the heart about situations with people close to him which motivated his rap career. Check the snippet from the rhymes quoted above. Straight fire!
Conclusion
Eif 2: Eat What You Kill is a must listen to album for true Hip Hop heads. It’s some of the most visceral and grittiest braggadocios I’ve heard in a while. The flow, the beat production, and the visuals make it refreshing to ear ironically. If you haven’t… check this album out immediately!
Eif 2: Eat What You Kill Track List
- Fentanyl
- May Block
- PainKillers
- Hide the Body (Featuring Benny The Butcher)
- Corners
- Cocaine Paid
- G Money on the Roof
- OverDose
- Be Proud of Me
- Piece of My Heart
Release Date: January 3, 2019
Have you listened to Conway The Machine’s Eif 2: Eat What You Kill album? What did you think of it… chop it up with us in the comments below!
