Photo Credit: @the_hangman78
On Music…
What a sorrowful summer we’ve all endured. Sadness and loss abound. But joy, too, so much joy tucked into the pockets of 2020. While I’m not here to tout I know how to balance the pain with the pleasure, I am here to say there has been one trio of Buffalo rappers who have kept me afloat as I drifted through 2020’s unforgiving waters. Today, I present a celebration of Griselda, with special attention paid to Mr. Conway The Machine, who just released his latest, From King To A GOD.
I’ve long loved Griselda. Back in 2019, myself and Dylan Green penned a piece explaining why each core member of Griselda was, in fact, the best member of Griselda. It was a hot August, back in The Before times, and we were shooting the shit when I realized what a blast it might be to wax poetic about the Griselda boys with my dear friend Dylan. He agreed. The piece came to life shortly thereafter. Of Conway, we both wrote:
“I mean, come on, he’s called “The Machine” for a reason. Just listen to his gnashing delivery, his admirable ear for horrifying beats, and allow your skin to crawl at the sight of his ghastly writing. Conway does not busy himself with long-winded metaphors or overwrought imagery. As a writer, he gets to the chilling heart of the matter. —Donna-Claire Chesman
“The fact that Conway The Machine is rapping at all is nothing short of miraculous. A bullet to the back of the head paralyzed half of his face and almost ended his life in 2012; but, like Supreme prices, he rises. There’s a confidence in Conway’s voice that’s undeniable… His use of slant rhymes and stilted bars make for a flow that is both vicious and understated, striking like a cobra. He keeps you off-balance but invested. —Dylan “CineMasai” Green
With the release of FKTG, Conway makes good on our piece with 14 “gnashing” tracks where The Machine is the king cobra of this hip-hop shit. Ahead of my most recent interview with Conway, he was in the studio with DJ Premier—legendary sentence—working on the closing track for his album. He was working to the final seconds to get FKTG perfect for everyone checking for his latest.
As I wrote in my interview with the man, FKTG proves Conway to be in a constant state of evolution. A sauntering beat from Murda Beatz pushes Machine out of his grimy comfort zone, while production from Havoc and The Alchemist remind us why Conway The Machine is a premier technician. The grit of FKTG is outdone only by the passionate desperation on tracks like “Front Lines” and “Forever Dropping Tears.”
“I’m not coming into this shit unsure of myself,” Conway told me when I asked if there was a natural pressure to regarding yourself as the best rapper alive. “Nah, ‘I’m the best! I’m the GOAT, n***a. I’m that boy.’ You gotta have that kinda attitude, and be willing to put in the work. See how the OGs before you did it. Without them, there wouldn’t be no you. I gotta carry that torch with me and I can’t abuse that power.”
Conway The Machine’s reverence for hip-hop culture and history makes him one of the most fearsome in all of modern rap. He has all the tools, from his long-standing studying of the game, to eviscerate anyone in his path. It’s only out of pure kindness he chooses not to leave a wasteland of carnage in his wake. When you listen to Machine, you hear the heart of a lion mixed with the bars of a hustling titan. Conway The Machine is larger than life, and yet, never stops being a gentleman.
FKTG is an album of the year contender, because it hones in on what makes rap incredible: Storytelling, wordplay, set pieces, incredible scenes, passionate skits… I could go on. Conway’s got one of the best adlibs in hip-hop with his laugh, and his real-life laugh is just as contagious. Conway The Machine is a venerable force in an era where microwave music keeps securing unexpected bags. Unbothered and untamed, Conway will surely continue to stomp forward as heir to a throne held not only by his OGs, but, now, by his proud peers. That’s lineage in cinematic motion.