As he continues to prep his anticipated Michelle Records album, Westside Gunn is holding fans over with the release of his latest mixtape Peace “Fly” God, a 10-track effort that marks the rapper’s first full-length drop of the year. After finding Billboard chart success Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely, Adolf tape and riding that momentum of Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B, Gunn returns with a body of work that finds him working him a familiar list of collaborators, lyrically and musically. Boasting guest appearances from Stove God Cooks and Estee Nack, as well as production by Madlib, Daringer, Conductor Williams, and Don Carrera, Peace “Fly” God finds Gunn playing to his strengths and sticking to his tried-and-true formula with effective results.
After giving the album a spin, VIBE highlights five songs from Westside Gunn’s Peace “Fly” God album that we feel are its best upon our first listen.
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"Horses On Sunset" Featuring Stove God Cooks
Image Credit: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella Stove God Cooks contributes a deceptively addictive performance while linking with Westside Gunn for this joint effort from Peace “Fly” God. “They said they shot him six times/ I said you should have shot him seven, then he could have died,” Stove God notes matter-of-factly on the Madlib-produced number, providing a bit of dark humor to offset the raw levity of Westside’s rhyme spill. It’s rife with quotables and sits among the stronger stanzas on the album.
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"Big A** Bracelet" Featuring Stove God Cooks
Image Credit: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images Waxing poetic about chunky, bejeweled trinkets, Westside Gunn is heavy on the wrist on this outing, which includes a solemn instrumental provided by Don Carrera and a guest spot from Stove God Cooks. “Three stripes on the Gucci/ Lyrics back to back, sixty-threes, we all had uzis,” Gunn raps, as he conjures snapshots from his tenure on the blocks of his Buffalo stomping grounds atop a sample lifted from the 1971 ballad “I Don’t Wanna Cry” by The After Hours.
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"Jesus Crack" Featuring Estee Nack And Stove God Cooks
Image Credit: Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage Following a brief intro, Westside Gunn sets off the proceedings of his latest effort with this lengthy cut, which finds the rhymer and curator playing the back as Estee Nack and Stove God Cooks lyrically handle much of the heavy lifting. Rhyming atop a backdrop crafted by Don Carrera, Gunn and company form like Voltron for this hard-boiled offering hailing the messiah of the coke rock, as the trio pledges their allegiance to the hustle.
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"Bobby Rhude"
Image Credit: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images Westside Gunn hands the reigns over to Estee Nack on this outing. The Massachusetts rep goes bonkers with a highlight reel of couplets that showcase why he’s become such an ancillary cog in the Griselda machine. Produced by Don Carrera, this soulful composition, which is dominated by a recurring vocal sample, is the latest tune from Westside. It’s named in honor of a legendary wrestler Bobby Roode who’s thrown a nod from the Fly One.
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"Danhausen"
Image Credit: Christian Vierig/Getty Images A woozy hodgepodge of horn-driven boom-bap on “Danhausen” serves as the soundscape for Westside Gunn to plaster his grisly musings. Produced by Conductor Williams, this frantic salvo from the Buffalo native’s latest collection finds Fly God sticking to his own devices without any additional reinforcement, a reminder that he’s as capable of a soloist as he is in a collaborative setting.