Album Review - Westside Gunn - Flygod Is An Awesome God 2

    Happy #NewMusicFriday everyone! Today I am going to be reviewing Westside Gunn's fifth studio album and sequel to Flygod Is An Awesome God, Flygod Is An Awesome God 2. Featuring artists such as AA Rashid, Stove God Cooks, Armani Caesar, fellow Griselda legend Benny The Butcher, Boldy James, Keisha Plum, and Rome Streetz, the album is one to look out for. Gunn's consistency has to be pointed out. He already dropped Pray For Paris this year and is showing no signs of slowing down. Without further ado, let's get into the tracks.

    The album starts off with 'Praise God Intro' featuring AA Rashid and produced by Daringer. It is a spoken word existential monologue by Rashid exclaiming that we as a whole are in a renaissance. He continues to exclaim that as a whole, artists have taken the fear that has engulfed them and made it a slave to their art. This effort must continue with the help and praise to God. 'Michael Irvin' comes up next. Produced by Conductor Williams, the ominous late-night stroll in the park sounding beat lays the perfect foundation for WSG to sail over his one mega-verse song. Machismo-ridden, proud and bellicose, WSG makes easy money of this song, that ends up with the news soundbite of Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin's arrest. 

    We stick to the athlete title theme by moving on to 'Jose Canseco' featuring Stove God Cooks and produced by Tarik Azzouz and STREETRUNNER. The beat is a really slow BPM with a heavy sample loop that is extremely signature WSG. Both him and Stove lay their verses effortlessly talking about their cheffin' days with no shortage of the infamous Griselda ad libs we are all used to hearing. Also in the name of consistency, it wouldn't be a WSG album without a wrestling soundbite and sure enough, we get a Macho Man Randy Savage interview soundbite in the outro. The next song 'One More Hit' also featuring Stove and produced by Denny LaFlare sounds very similar to Conseco. Slow beat, one verse each, and talking about the same content. It would've sounded better to have a longer song with a beat switch in the middle or separate these two tracks on the album, but to put them right after each other was not the right move.

    After the 1st of Sadhugold's interludes, we then move onto my favorite track on the album, 'Lil Cease' featuring Armani Caesar. JR Swiftz produced a hard-hitting beat and Armani came ready with the lines.  'The flow is frío, so dope, could sell it by the kilo, Tell 'em I want the smoke like I'm runnin' hot, Couldn't wait to see how I was comin' like a money shot' and 'It's like I never got the joke, I'm always last laughin', Armani here to stay, you bitches fast fashion' That's next level barz. I can't wait to hear what she has in store next. 

    After another news soundbite from Buffalo in 'FCK the Police skit' we move on to 'Buffs vs. Wires' featuring Benny and Boldy James and also produced by Daringer. A slower BPM beat with a heavy sample loop, all 3 rappers have different cadences that somehow seem to work perfectly over this beat in different ways. Benny never misses and Boldy seems to be making one hell of a name for himself in his new role. One other thing worth mentioning in WSG's verse when he says 'Who Made The Sunshine?', he later revealed on Instagram that that would be the title of his Shady Records debut album.

    'Bubba Chuck (Remix)' featuring Stove and produced by DJ Shay comes up next. The beat is slow paced and the horn sample is emphasized. We notice in WSG's verse his reference to his Muslim faith in his saying 'Makin' Salaat with twenty shooters next Jumu'ah'. Stove's verse on this song is his best in my opinion, the best formed and wittiest of all 3 verses he has on this album. He jokingly mentions his plans on getting even richer 'I'm 'bout to buy a hundred shares of Hulu' he says. Also, this is the first song on the album that we hear has a chorus. 

    After Sadhugold's 2nd sample-heavy interlude, we get to the sexy part of the album. In 'Drive By Love' featuring Keisha Plum and produced by Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids, WSG gets to his sensual tendencies but never forgetting to remind us of his love of a woman that knows how to cook bricks. On 'Rebirth' he also calls upon Plum's talents to make a very similar song to 'Drive By Love'. It's like WSG has mini albums within the album with the back-to-back Stove and Plum features. 

    We end the album with 'Steve Behr' featuring Rome Streetz and produced by Sadhugold. The outro is what sticks out in this song. Sounds like an old run-down man who has seen better days in life preaching what he has learned about God and what he has been put on this earth for. Not quite sure what to get out of that dialog, but WSG never did like convention.

    Overall, I am just happy with WSG's consistency and poise. Everyone gives him a tough time for not being a 'rapper' and he openly admits to not like rapping. For someone who doesn't like rapping, he always does a hell of a job at creating quality music with up-and-coming artists that need a bump in their careers. Kudos to you, WSG. Keep doing you! Thanks for taking the time to read my review, if you haven't listened to the album, please give it a listen below. As always, stay tuned for more awesome music !