The Lake Review: Sunday Swim Westsidegunn, Hitler Wears Hermes 8 (Side A)
Lets face it. Westsidegunn is the best out of everyone in Griselda. When it comes down to luxurious raps and what people love to label “coke rap”, no one is doing it like him. He’s the most consistent. You know what you’re going to get when you listen to a project from him and this album is no different.
HWH8: Sincerely Adolf is a double album, but I’ll only be talking about Side A because it honestly wouldn’t do the album justice giving it one whole review. HWH8 begins with a haunting intro that leads into the second track which consists of words of wisdom courtesy of AA Rashid over Conductor Williams production. A lot of lines on this track stuck out like most of AA Rashid’s work, but the one that got me was “You goin down like Christmas ornaments in February, nigga!” which is honestly hilarious yet so true lol.
After this track, we get a beautiful yet infectious vocal sample that is so easy to get stuck in your head with Westsidegunn rapping about his extensive collection of high fashion while painting vivid tales of drug deals and drive bys. The next verse comes courtesy of the star of the album, Stove God Cooks. Featured on five of the thirteen tracks, this is definitely the album that made me a believer in Stove God Cooks and his craft. Besides WSG, Benny and Boldy James (two more Griselda signees), he is the only person able to paint a picture of drug dealing so vividly with his words and from here, the album stays on go.
Produced entirely by The Heartbreakers, a production team who are also signed to Griselda, consisting of Denny LaFlare, Conductor Williams, and Camoflauge Monk, the album has the perfect canvas for Westsidegunn and his features to paint a beautiful picture on about their lives and how far they’ve come. Rome Streetz is another star of the album, starting off his verse on Draymond “with the right, I shake a millionaire’s hand, with the left, I serve a junkie.” Possibly one of the best opening lines I’ve heard in a while. The most impressive verse however comes from Sauce Walka, a Houston rapper, who flows EFFORTLESSLY on the song, Westheimer. With production that sounds like it could’ve been used in an old Scooby-Doo episode, Sauce Walka takes over the whole song for a verse that will have you running the song back just to catch every line. Also shoutsout to Sauce Walka for being probably the only rapper I’ve heard make a Dave Mirra reference.
HWH8 Sincerely Adolf was originally planned to be WSG’s final album, but that retirement lasted shorter than Jay-Z’s after The Black Album. Overall, the album is a PERFECT representation of WSG and what he brings to the culture of hip-hop while also highlighting the features and his ear for amazing production. With a tour coming up and a new album being teased, we can only expect more greatness from hip-hops greatest rebel, the FLYGOD.
Tune in next week when I review Side B of Hitler Wears Hermes 8.
