Fischer Plummer
Westside Gunn, an artist out of Buffalo, New York has been making waves recently in the avant-garde hip hop scene. Known for his sampling and unique sounding voice. the 2019 track “Gunnlib” works well in both of his strengths. He is typically credited with the Executive Production of most if not all of the releases from his label “Griselda” in the last 5 years, and executively produced the album “FlyGod” that this released off of.
The title of the track is a play on the producer “Madlib” and his previous connections with other artists in combining their names together to create one.
The sound of the song is very unique, using a vocal sample with a few guitar strands to provide the main backing of the track. Extending it out farther to add another element. The voice of Westside Gunn is quite unique in of itself, and can often be a make or break with the enjoyment of his music. Higher pitched, can be nasally at times. The ad-libs are ludicrous, and an instrument of itself. Not uncommon to hear a strand of self-made gun sounds that flow into the song.
The lyrics are typical from what you would expect from Westside Gunn, his current lavish lifestyle and stories from his youth in Buffalo mix extremely well with the soulful sampling. Short track, but is a coherent piece that contributes well to the overall album’s ” structure.
There is a WWE voice sample at the end of the song, which has wrestler “The Miz” saying the line; “And I’m awesome!”