By: Ricky Perez Cardoza
‘And Then You Pray For Me’ is Westside Gunn’s 20th studio album released on October 13th, of 2023. Westside Gunn is enjoyed by mainly people who like boom bap or listen to mainly underground music. He isn’t well known but is praised for his continuation of releasing a lot of music and especially for having a distinct sound from every other mainstream artist. This album is no different from his others but is one of his most messy and less linear albums to date giving a lot of people mixed opinions on it.
“Mamas PrimeTime” starts the album with the unique and iconic boom bap instrumental Westside Gunn is known for. The song gets a lot of people who are into this sound hooked immediately, especially with Westside Gunn’s great verse on the song that adds to its dark and grimness. JID is an artist who just recently released one of the best rap albums in the 2020s and delivers an amazing verse on this type of instrumental which shows his great versatility. Conway the Machine also delivers a great verse and is someone who we see a lot of in the album.
“Kostas” is one of the many trap songs/instrumentals we see on the album. Its production is something Westside Gunn rarely has rapped on, and he still holds his own for most of his verse but goes in a weird route of not switching up his flow at all on a beat where he would’ve benefited from rapping faster and more smoothly. Conway the Machine has such a nice verse for this type of beat; he’s easily the one who carries the song even when Benny The Butcher also has a great part as well. This trio is something we see in a lot of Westside Gunn’s music and it works once again on this song.
“1989” (feat. Stove God Cooks) starts with a weird decision from Westside Gunn to have his whole verse in a lower tone which goes with the dark beat that they have, but Westside Gunn’s voice doesn’t really work with this and it just sounds way too dark and not good. Stove God Cooks also doesn’t have a great verse or chorus. His vocals aren’t good at all and are made worse by the grimy beat. It’s a song that most people skip because it doesn’t have much to offer but if Westside Gunn didn’t do the low pitch voice this song would be way better.
“S*ucide in Selfridges” goes back to the amazing boom bap and is even produced by the Conductor Williams who does such an amazing job at recreating the sound Westside has made for himself with his spin on it. Westside Gunn has a great verse that flows so nicely and is lyrical. He talks mainly about his life before rapping and even the current one. The one bad thing about his song is that it’s super short at only 2:51 of runtime but a minute of it is just a random person talking about himself.
“KITCHEN LIGHTS” is easily the best on the album mostly because of its classical, heavenly sound. Westside Gunn also has such an amazing verse with his flow, adlibs, and lyrics. He talks about his childhood and all the problems he faced as a kid living in the hood, and having an abusive father and the things he had to sell to get through most days and have food for him and his siblings. Stove God Cooks also has an amazing verse and this is where his vocals do help the song and are fitting.
“FLYGOD 2x” is a song people don’t talk about enough. It doesn’t necessarily stand out but has a nice boom bap sound where it’s only Westside Gunn on this song and it’s also one of the shortest songs on the album, but it doesn’t take away the fact it sounds like the normal Westside Gunn song. The verse from Westside should be talked about more and I wished it could’ve been longer. It also has a little clip of Tyler The Creator condemning Westside for making him want to rap again.
“DunnHill” (feat. Rick Ross) This would’ve been a great opportunity to have Rick Ross rap and deliver his verse on boom bap instrumental but instead Westside decides to have him rap on a trap beat that doesn’t go well together. Westside Gunn himself doesn’t do that well on these types of beats and Rick Ross doesn’t either. It’s one of the many songs that makes this album messy.
“House of GLORY” (feat. Stove God Cooks) is another song that is almost a left hook completely in its production and sound from both Westside Gunn and Stove God Cooks, and something that isn’t ruined by anything at all. Having these songs of just hitting you with a lot of different sounds is something that doesn’t help even when it has nothing wrong at all just a sound people only hear for this song, and it also doesn’t stand out either.
“JD Wrist” (feat. Stove God Cooks) is another great trap song that still goes with Westside Gunn’s sound and even has some of the founders of good trap music like the legendary Trap-A-Hoilics and verse from Estee Nack that has such a nice string of bars. He then takes a left turn and starts whispering his verse midway through. Westside Gunn does really well on this song and flows nicely on this instrumental.
“Disgusting” is another trap song that has Westside Gunn make a great decision production-wise and also how he delivers his verse with it getting broken up by adlibs. The Feature by Giggs who is a UK Drill Rapper doesn’t go well on this song. It’s a verse that would’ve been cut after a final draft from the album and would’ve had Conway or any other Griselda member on the track, but it ultimately leaves us with a mediocre verse from Giggs that doesn’t belong on that song.
“Chloe” is a great and honest attempt at a slow jam from Westside Gunn that definitely works with its sound and the great background vocals by Ty Dolla $ign, but when you really pay attention to the lyrics it becomes a slow but dark and dirty song with real explicit lyrics and Ty Dolla $ign has an alright verse but most importantly has amazing vocals.
“LL BOOL GUNN” is easily the worst song on the album. It has no redeeming qualities other than its title being funny to some Griselda fans. It’s lazy, embarrassing, and should’ve had a feature or even cut completely from the album.
“Babylon Bis” (feat. Stove God Cooks) is a longer song which for Westside Gunn is a good indication of a good song and that’s exactly what this song is. Westside Gunn goes back to the boom bap with a great verse, but also an amazing verse from Stove God Cooks that people would’ve been tired of hearing by now, but holds his own with amazing verses like the one he delivers on this song. We also get an unknown woman rapping/talking on the song who isn’t credited at all but does bring a good vibe to the song.
“Ultra GriZelda” (feat. Denzel Curry) is another amazing song attempt at a trap song and it works well on this song. Westside Gunn makes the best decision on this album to feature Denzel Curry on this song who destroys the song with an amazing verse and chorus. Westside himself also does well on the song which is expected because of how this instrumental was produced with both artists in mind.
“Jalen Rose” is the worst version of the previous song in every way. The song is produced similarly to “Ultra GriZelda” by incorporating piano into a trap beat but the Boldy James feature doesn’t help the messy and dirty-sounding instrumental that even Westside doesn’t perform well on where he talks again about his rough childhood.
“Steve and Jony” sounds way too similar to the song “Kostas” but this time instead of having the Griselda members on the whole we get a place feature from EST Gee who might have the worst feature on the album, tied with Giggs on the song “Disgusting”. The song is a worse and lazier version of the song “Kostas” and should’ve been cut out.
“MR EVERYTHING” (feat. Jeezy) Another attempt at a trap song. This one isn’t the worst of all the other trap songs on the album and might even be one of the best, but the random 2013 trap sound effects are really weird and outdated and were probably DJ Swamps Izoo’s idea. Jeezy who is also on a legendary status of being a founder of trap music is featured on this song and does well, but Westside Gunn still has the better verse even with it being explicit with its lyrics.
“Freddy Js” is the worst trap song on the album. The dirty and distorted mixing of the bass and other instruments is too unruly and undefined. The song would be way better if it didn’t do too much to be a rage/trap song in one that didn’t work out at all. Perez and Westside both have great verses that could’ve been amplified if the instrumental wasn’t so bad.
“The Revenge of Flips Leg” brings back the amazing producer Conductor Williams and he delivers a great instrumental. It’s also unruly like the previous song but also not as distorted or a trap instrumental. It has a great break/chorus from a slowed-down church choir that makes the transition from Rome Streetz to Westside Gunn amazing. They both perform well on this song but Rome Streetz goes all out on his verse mostly because of his rhyme and lyricism.
“AND THEN YOU PRAY FOR ME” is the final song of this long and messy album and giving the whole outro to KayCyy was not the best decision. His singing is not the best and also is slow. His verse on the other hand is good and having the beat simple and not messy like the rest of the album is such a genius move by Westside, but the song overall is forgettable.
‘And Then You Pray For Me’ is one of the very last full-length LPs that we’ll get by Westside Gunn who said himself that he wants to retire after this album. He’ll still be putting out music but won’t be releasing 2 to 3 projects in one year like he’s done for the past decade.
The album can’t be defined as a trap, boom bap, and is nothing like the ‘Pray For Paris’ which this album is a sequel to. It’s also one of his longer albums twice the length of ‘Pray For Paris’ which most people say is still the better album from those two and there’s a big reason why. ‘Pray For Paris’ is more centered on a sound; it doesn’t hit you with different sounds every song like this album does.
‘And Then You Pray For Me’ is an album that only gets better after every listen but is also bloated with some trash. You also might miss some of the best moments on the album because of how it’s organized. ‘And Then You Pray For Me’ is another example of Westside Gunn’s raw and artsy approach to rap and has some moments where it’s not well executed, but the good stuff on this album makes it an overall great addition to the massive discography Westside Gunn has.
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