If I were to come up with a list of my favorite emcees right now it would absolutely include Benny the Butcher. Benny just has that unfiltered rawness that immediately demanded attention and that’s exactly how he found his way into my headphones in 2018 with “‘97 Hov”. His delivery on the track was so confident that he sounded like he was a vet in the game. And it didn’t hurt that he had some unbelievable production from Griselda’s in-house producer Daringer on the first part of the beat followed up by the one and only ALC lacing him on the back half of the track. The title of the track had piqued my interest as well. Here it is if you’re not up on the track or Benny.
You just couldn’t ignore the run that Griselda was on in the late 2010’s and early 2020’s. Griselda Records was founded by Buffalo, NY’s own Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine, alongside their cousin Benny the Butcher. The label became synonymous with gritty, unapologetic lyricism and their trademark sound blended haunting, sample-heavy production with raw, vivid storytelling, painted by the trio's intricate rhyme schemes and unwavering delivery. Benny and crew were a breath of fresh air on the rap scene for any old heads looking for that grimey 90’s NYC sound. Just peep “Tito’s Back” and tell me you don’t feel like you have a razor blade up under the tongue.
Since I wasn’t up on Benny and Griselda from the jump, I was trying to play catch up quickly to listen to everything I missed. But when Benny dropped The Plugs I Met on June 21, 2019, he solidified his position as a force to be reckoned with in the rap game. Benny skillfully crafted an auditory experience that transported listeners into the heart of the streets. The Plugs I Met captured the essence of '90s boom-bap while carving out its own unique and contemporary sound. I still can’t get enough of tracks like “5 to 50” which to me was just an entirely different wave of the music than everything else dropping back then. With a subdued banger of a beat from The Alchemist and Benny droppin lines like, “how I’m in every verse admittin’ how I work a kitchen like it’s Church’s chicken”, I was all in.
From this album on, I was locked in on catching every Benny feature or project that he dropped. So the timing was right when he followed up 2019’s The Plugs I Met with Burden of Proof the following year. With gritty production and soulful samples produced in its entirety by Hit-Boy, Burden of Proof delves into the realities of street life and the struggles faced by those trying to rise above it. Benny's introspective rhymes offer a glimpse into his personal journey, as he reflects on the sacrifices made and the risks taken to attain success. There’s just no denying lyrics like, “Put my hood in diamonds, so you know how my block did it, gun come with a Carfax, you know who I shot with it.” Too damn fresh. The track “Legend” to me is Benny’s victory lap around the rap game and no matter how many times I listen to it, it refuses to get played out.
Benny’s new album Everybody Can’t Go will be dropping in the first quarter of 2024 and I know I know I’m not alone in being hyped for the project to drop. He’s dropped a couple of tracks in preparation for the drop including getting Weezy on a beat from ALC which is a feat in itself. Here’s “Big Dog” which dropped late in 2023. Who else here is hyped for the new Benny the Butcher album to drop?