Westside Gunn didn’t take kindly to Benny The Butcher and Conway The Machine being among the snubs for the top rappers of 2022. All three artists are related and share a history with the label founded by Westside and Conway, Griselda Records.
Complex Brackets co-host Brian Miller started the controversy on Thursday when he posted his list of the top ten rappers of the year so far. Using “skill, performance and relevance” as his criteria, Miller put Kendrick Lamar at the top spot. Lamar’s latest project, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers has topped charts since its release.
Pusha T, J. Cole, Kodak Black and Boldy James made up the rest of the top five. Vince Staples, Lil Durk, Jack Harlow, Lil Baby and 21 Savage also made the list.
It didn’t take long for Westside Gunn to peep the list. An hour after Miller posted his tweet, Westside Gunn gave his opinion on Benny the Butcher and Conway’s snubs.
“This n***a personally didn’t put up @BennyBst & and @WHOISCONWAY,” the Buffalo native wrote on Twitter.
Responding to a fan sharing his own confusion at the list, Gunn added, “Click bait duuuuuuuh he knows by not putting them on there [it] will give it the attn it is just like when I just tweeted it, that’s exactly what he wants for the conversation I know for a million f***in fakts this is intentional ain’t that right @bdotTM.”
Benny The Butcher and Conway’s 2022 so far
Putting aside the bias, Benny and Conway have both put in good work in the first half of the year. Despite the ongoing beef with Freddie Gibbs, Benny dropped Tana Talk 4 and earned his first Billboard Hot 100 track thanks to “Johnny P’s Caddy,” which features J.Cole.
Meanwhile, Conway dropped his first project with Shady Records in February, God Don’t Make Mistakes. The LP featured collaborations with Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T.I Jill Scott and Beanie Sigel.
The Machine joined Westside Gunn in his bemusement at the snubs on Twitter. “This is a great list,” he wrote in B. Dot’s mentions.
However, one artist that didn’t take offense to being omitted was Pusha T. The rapper, whose latest album It’s Almost Dry topped the Billboard 200 in April, shared Miller’s rankings on his Instagram story. “I’m not mad @bdottm…We only 6 months in, let’s fight…#ItsALmostDry RAOTY easy…”, King Push wrote.
Coincidentally, Conway opened up for Pusha at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom on Wednesday as part of the It’s Almost Dry Tour.
Written by Olan Bryant
