Daringer x Westside Gunn — Raw Is Flygod

A fourteen-minute single that compresses five tracks by Westside Gunn produced by Daringer into what is sort of an EP. Gunn's daughter Westside Pootie, whose voice opens and closes the project, is sometimes credited as co-author.

The first part coincides with one of the best beats ever created by Daringer. The boy strings together three different parts from an unknown piece, "The Third Degree", one of the few singles released by The Sequins, 1970s female soul group from Chicago, Illinois. Phenomenal boom bap, great bass line, light downtempo drum, perfect soundscape. Iconic entrance by Westside Gunn energetically delivering the first in a long series of texts typical of his catalogue, with frayed and loaded lines which in this quarter of hour include crime, gangsterism, fashion, drugs, women, guns, sex, money, cars, food, braggadocio and wrestling. Westside Pootie closes the first part with an outro.

After a minute the second part begins, which uses a synthesized guitar from a late seventies tune by Timo Laine to support emcee bars. WSG delivers with a heavier and slower pace than before, leaving plenty of room for the guitar to dominate the track. An outro dedicated to wrestler Davey Boy Smith follows on the same beat.

The third segment of this single/EP features a solid production, calm bass, slow galloping drum, pretty melody, unfortunately ruined by a plaintive sample that works on paper, but that in the long run becomes annoying. Gunn's two verses are interspersed with a sample of Killa Sin from a song on Killarmy's second LP.

Daringer provides another excellent rhythm for the fourth split, thanks to a commendable sample from "I'll Be Satisfied" by James Cleveland and The Charles Fold Singers, a song from the late seventies. Beautiful melody, soft bass in the background, light percussion almost imperceptible, vinyl sound trying to emerge. Westside performs with energy, keeping his lyrical style with those frayed bars, then a wrestling skit ends the cut.

The fifth and final part has a lighter, more light-hearted and cheerful production, not as good as the previous ones. The drum hops carelessly around the piece, some saxophones try to call it to order without much success, while Gunn indulges in a predominantly sexual track.

Overall, it's a decent effort from Gunn and Daringer. What can be considered the first track has a high replay value despite being around sixty seconds of material and the fourth part boasts a great beat by Daringer. The rest of the project is a bit below the average level of Griselda efforts and it's of no interest to the casual listener.

Rating: 7/10.