Westside Gunn dropped Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B on Friday (September 24), a continuation of a series that began in 2012 with Hitler Wears Hermes.
The Griselda Records founder had 20 tracks and over an hour to further ruminate on his come-up and past struggles over brooding, piano-laced production. Features from Tyler, The Creator, Benny The Butcher, 2 Chainz, Mach-Hommy, Jay Electronica and others provided accentual moments that floated effortlessly over the, at times, soothing tones.
If Westside Gunn sounds more inspired, maybe even hungrier — he is. After announcing his split from Eminem’s Shady Records in November 2020 during an episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Gunn was free from the contractual obligations that seemed to weigh him down.
Speaking to HipHopDX earlier this month, the 39-year-old rapper was noticeably energized he was firmly back in the captain’s chair. At the same time, he admitted he wanted to do the Joe Budden interview to make the announcement.
“I actually wanted to do that interview just to say that,” he told DX. “Once I knew that the deal was done, I had already signed the paperwork and it was official, I’m like, ‘I got to make the announcement.’ But I mean, shout out to Paul [Rosenberg], shout out to Shady. It’s all love, you know what I’m saying? Yeah, it’s all love. Conway [The Machine] still has an album left over there that we have to drop and release, so it’s still all love.
“But it was just like one of those situations where it’s time for me to move on. It’s chapters in life. That’s why people move, dip out of town for different cultures and different experiences. And it’s the same thing for me.”
Westside Gunn is grateful for the roughly three years he spent at Shady Records and proud of the work he did there, including 2020’s Who Made The Sunshine.
“I had my time over there and it was all love, it was all good,” he continued. “You know we dropped What Would Chine Gun Do (WWCD), I dropped Who Made The Sunshine and it was all good. But it was just like, ‘OK, I’m a boss.’ I was a boss before that deal, you see what I’m saying? Like, I was already the owner of Griselda Records before I did that deal.
“I was already making noise before I did that deal. That’s why we even did the partnership in the first place. It wasn’t just like I came out of thin air. I already had murals painted of me and people tattooing me, people crazy.”
But there’d been signs Westside Gunn was ready to fly the Shady coup. Last October, he hinted there’d been a lack of support at the label after Eminem encouraged his 22.8 million Twitter followers to cop The Alchemist’s new album The Food Villain — but not his.
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A Griselda fan took notice of the tweet and asked, “No post @westsidegunn’s album that’s in your own label? Lol wtf.” Westside replied with three laughing emojis followed by three “sssh” emojis, making it clear he was wondering the same thing.
With the Shady Records label situation in Westside Gunn’s rearview, he’s ready to keep conquering the world. As he said in a recent Instagram post, “FLYGOD is serving his purpose.”
Was a dumb deal anyway that clearly wasn’t understood. Was only a distribution deal. Ironically the 2 shady records are their highest selling records. Boom boom boom
False, do your research
which part? lil man you need to get out of your feelings and do your own research. boom, boom and boom
Dont go out your way to shit on anything Shady related. Mainstream wouldn’t know you if it wasn’t for the cosign. If you was already a boss, you woulda had your own shit. Learn how to leave gracefully.
Is this Shannon Sharpe?
Bruh, Griselda > Shady
Griselda better than shady in every way possible
He should drop the mic completely. No one wants to hear a schizophrenic Mickey Mouse rapping.
Haha he just dropped one of the greatest double albums in rap history, at the very least a super high quality project. U don’t have to like it and we prefer u don’t. I think shady records aka shady, and wsg had some kind of petty disagreement cuz their was some sour feelings. I think it’s squashed now. Everyone make $ and make quality music. Not a fan of most of shady records releases except for Conway’s last album on their label. Let’s just get along everyone. Air out our differences and reason in an amicable fashion.
“One of the greatest double rap albums in history”? Okay, I read that and completely ignored the rest of your comment.
Name me 5 better double rap albums in the last 10 Years. U can’t nobody can. Bye bye u lose haha
So from “in rap history” to “the last 10 years”. Moving the goal post much? And this ain’t even a double album if they’re released separately. Just say “I’m no older than 20” and we can carry on.
Facts. Typically in a double album you have a few duds and some mediocre tracks. Westside put out a near flawless double album. I don’t believe this has ever been done in hip hop history.
Life After Death
All Eyez On Me; Life After Death; Wu Tang Forever; Underground Kingz; Speakboxx/Love Below
Name me 5 better u troll u can’t u lose bye
WSG is bigger than shady records tho. He never needee that deal ..it was a good look I guess. I still dont understand why they went over there in the first place.
So wsg sold over 150 million records. Not even close. How are they bigger than shady records. Em himself sold more on mmlp than they have there entire career.
You don’t understand where I’m trying to get at..allow me to explain. He’s bigger than shady records in terms of potential at the moment.. look at all the other business moves he made just based off his underground hype..all the money he’s making. All the wrestling shit he’s tapped into. Now what has shady records done other than promote Eminem and not really care for anyone on their roster??.. I mean what is shady records really doing in 2021???? lol. what happened to slaughterhouse.. cashis.. list goes on. That’s why it never made any sense to me.
Em posted about their record on his official shady records shit. Not on his personal one which he did fir alchemist who by far deserves it for being wigh em forever. Im pretty sure their contract never had em holding their hands either. It was probably a better contract then artists get elsewhere. This doesnt need ti be a cry baby budden moment 2.0 either.
Album sounds like early 90s shit. Dude sucks.
This album sounds nothing like early 90’s hip hop. More mid to late 90’s. Know your hip hop before you post bull shit comments. Westside Gunn is also the best in the game right now.
This dude sucks ass grip is better imo
I thought this was Kanye speaking for a second smh… dude is overrated af.
Overrated? Everybody here hates wsg haha. I don’t get why people click on stories of artists they don’t like. I’m a fan I like his music. Wsg would outrap CURRENT kanye easily, not graduation level Kanye when he was making quality music and one of the best.
No trash ass Kanye is overrated! He makes music for garbage cans he ain’t top tier no more . But WSG is top tier on each album
But… Eminem did post wests album and tell people to get it tho
But Shade45, which is Eminem’s Sirius XM Channel, plays Griselda songs from ALL OF Griselda’s artists round the clock. So how is Em not promoting them??? People are funny. I hear Westside Gunn’s voice on that station far more often then I can say I hear Alchemist’s beats but okay.
“he’s trash” culture is so lame…..nah where ever have u dudes come from is lame…yall will never respect real street music…no wonder why your lost….Grizelda!
SINCERELY AND SIDE B ARE ACTUALLY A REALLY GOOD COLLECTIONS OF MUSIC. BEST WESTSIDE PROJECTS SINCE BLIENTELE.