Westside Gunn might not have ever reached the top of the Billboard 200 – nor has any member of Griselda, really – but their impact can not be overstated. Their catalog runs deep with dozens of celebrated albums deemed classics in their own right. However, before Gunn released his final album, And Then You Pray For Me, the Griselda mastermind received his rightful flowers from the culture. On the outro to “Flygod 2x,” a familiar voice emerges and utters high praise for Westside Gunn. “To JAY-Z, to André, to Westside Gunn for makin' me just wanna rap again,” Tyler, The Creator says in a sample pulled from Instagram Live. “I f**kin' love it, I love rap, it changed n***as lives.”
Tyler’s never limited his praise for Westside Gunn to an Instagram shout-out. On “Sir Baudelaire,” the intro of the Grammy-award-winning album, Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler used a sample of Conductor Williams’ production from "Michael Irvin" by Westside Gunn. The recognition alone further proved that his influence has reached well beyond the underground. Drake’s recent collaborations with Conductor Williams on “8 AM In Charlotte” and “Stories About My Brother” further showcase Gunn’s unmatched influence on the culture.
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Westside Gunn Just Wants To Push The Culture Forward
Gunn expresses nothing short of gratitude for these moments, where his peers honor the work that he put in. When we spoke to Westside Gunn for the latest HotNewHipHop cover story, he explained that these gestures from Tyler and Drake capture his goal of pushing the culture forward. “To inspire my peers is everything,” he says. “It’s respect, you know what I’m sayin’? I like when someone’s confident enough to give somebody their flowers. Like I said, Tyler don’t have to do that ever again. He already did that. Drake don’t have to do it again, he did it. I’m gonna always respect both of them for doing that.”
During the past few years, Gunn, alongside Benny The Butcher and Conway, have pushed this vintage sound from the depths of the underground onto the highest placements of the Billboard charts. “Tyler doing that is everything because I hope it shows that people don’t have to – you know, so many people just want to be the man, you know what I’m sayin’? And then don’t want to actually give credit where credit’s due. It’s no need for that. We all in this to push the art, and push the culture, and let’s just keep doing that man.”
Check out HotNewHipHop’s latest cover story, Westside Gunn’s Pledge To The Culture.
