Continuing a thread started by Pray For Paris of humbling oneself, Westside Gunn has returned with the DJ Drama hosted Still Praying, just one day after his Kay Slay posthumously hosted(?) EP, 11. However, what makes Still Praying different is its conceptual turn through the pro-wrestling sampled vocals that orchestrate a wrestling stage for us to see from hearing as he personifies himself as a wrestler in some regard. It’s potently poignant, despite the content being more of the same; however, with an elevated pen game, it remains interesting from start to finish. It’s laced with boom bap and gritty East-influenced beats, and the two connect to create a significant stamp on who he is, and the prowess Westside Gunn has to command your ears makes it addictingly repeatable. I wasn’t crazy about his last album, And Then You Pray for Me, feeling too much of a mish-mosh of someone being who they aren’t, but Still Praying feels more like a return to form. He isn’t bringing many producers to orchestrate something too big, and instead, he winds down with regulars who elevate him to be his best, and we get just that, even if there is too much Drama.
After opening with an instrumental and vocal setup from Justin Roberts of AEW in the following track of Westside Gunn as this wrestler, in a one-two punch, wheels start churning. Westside Gunn expresses a lot of depth to the person we are hearing, the wrestler FlyGod with a sense of self-worth. However, with holes unfilled, like Virgil Abloh’s passing, whom Gunn still mourns, it shows a flawed person who can show his scars without doubt, like on the final track, “LeSalle Station,” where the walls are completely open. It’s one reason his pen game is motivated to come out on top with grit, another is how he creates parallels, like how on “Dr. Britt Baker,” he uses her professional duality to show his new direction while retaining a soul of who he once was, how it will all be apart of him, which for Gunn is a hustler. Gunn isn’t rapping homogenously; there’s emotion and range as he raps about his success, respect, death, riches, and incarceration issues. It’s not all in a vacuum, but how it’s orchestrated adds to a multidimensional album with the motions to keep you engaged through its fluid pivots, despite some of the retreads in content; it isn’t a bother here.
Westside Gunn isn’t gunshy about the constant allusions to his past and his current mentality, especially regarding his status and purported hardness, like what he carries strapped, and the materialism when inflecting about selling drugs and more. The flexing is clean, and there isn’t much to it as he doesn’t come off holier for it. In a sense, with how Gunn spins the album, the concept isn’t so linear, but more so an established creation that carries with him a mob of supporters, which in this case comes from the features who relate. Those features are the usual suspects, like his Griselda cohorts and Rome Streetz, Brother Tom Sos, and Stove God Cooks, who shine in their respective outings. It benefits them that the production doesn’t take a step back, delivering interesting like the ominous and simple work from Camoflauge Monk on the title track, where instruments have minor moments of distinguishability, like the piano before Boldy James verse. As the posse cut, it’s a welcomed return to the paralleled nostalgia of some boom-bap beats elsewhere, like the beautifully orchestrated bleakness of “Duran Duran” by Jr Switz or the jazzy vibes of “Beef Bar,” by Denny Laflare and Statik Selektah, who cook on it.
Unfortunately, as positive as I am about Still Praying, it isn’t perfect. For one, there is too much DJ Drama, and though that’s sometimes a given when it’s a Gangsta Grillz tape; here, it felt more like he overstayed his welcome. Some work, like on “Beef Bar” but other times it takes away from the flow of things, stunting moments like the transition from “Duran Duran” to “Runway Pieces At The Last Supper,” wasting a smooth entrance to the beat by Denny Laflare. Unfortunately, “Duran Duran” also has an unneeded intro by Drama. I remember the old days of DatPiff.com where they’d upload mixtapes without the DJs, and this one fits closer to wanting that than not. It’s unfortunate because when it hits, it hits. Drama is like an unnecessary feature at times, unlike the rap features, where, like I’ve noted prior, bring resounding depth to tack onto the themes, like how Gunn and Conway the Machine are taking shots with their flexing on “Free Shots,” and Brother Tom Sos, backing Gunn on the approach to “Dr. Britt Baker.” It’s a trove of musical riches, that my qualms become minor quibbles.
There’s no hiding I loved Still Praying. It’s one of Westside Gunn’s better later projects with a little flare to push it away negatively. It’s smooth and the pen game remains potent. You couldn’t ask for more, especially with the trend Gunn has been on with the last few projects being too emphatic and anthemic without the nuance. I couldn’t stop repeating it, especially because of the production, where the boom bap glimmers and the tonal grime guides. It’s a project that will stand the test of time, specifically with how more personal Gunn gets from an emotional core. Though I know he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, this is less of the cheeky confidence and more empathetically cored with ample character depth, I’m feeling the pain from the top rope as Gunn suplexes with fantastic bars on a mat of beats.
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