Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, & Wale – “The Hurt Business”

Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, & Wale – “The Hurt Business”

In recent years, the Buffalo crew and label Griselda has been thriving by evoking the feeling of late-’90s East Coast goon-rap. Last month, Griselda announced that they’d completed the ultimate late-’90s rap-mogul move: They’d fucked around and made their own movie. The crime film Conflicted, which stars Griselda greats Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn alongside actual actor Michael Rapaport, is set to arrive next week. I intend to rent it.

Before the movie, though, we’re getting the soundtrack album, which will feature names like Boldy James, Armani Caesar, Lloyd Banks, and Dave East. Griselda has already shared one track from the Conflicted soundtrack: “3:30 In Houston,” Benny’s defiant account of his recent shooting. Today, Westside Gunn has teamed up with fellow wrestling-fan rappers Smoke DZA and Wale on the new track “The Hurt Business.”

“The Hurt Business” takes its name from the current WWE faction of Bobby Lashley, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander. (These guys are still watching pandemic-era WWE programming! Good for them. I can’t hang with that shit. Too depressing.) Over a clanking Camouflage Monk track, all three rappers weave pro-wrestling references into guttural street-talk. Wale, in particular, gives the best verse I’ve heard from him in a while. Ric Flair, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Ravishing Rick Rude, Gangrel, the Rockers, the Young Bucks, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts all get namechecks. Listen below.

The Conflicted soundtrack is out 1/8 on Griselda. The movie arrives on 1/15.

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