Westside Gunn Recruits Denny LaFlare for “Hitler Wears Hermes XI” (EP Review)
Buffalo, New York emcee, songwriter, entrepreneur & curator Westside Gunn restarting the Hitler Wears Hermes series with his 6th EP. Proving his legend status & that he’s to be a force to be reckoned with all in nearly a decade whether it be running one of the hottest hip hop labels in recent memory to his first 2 full-lengths FLYGOD & Supreme Blientele. Last we heard from West was And Then You Pray for Me which as a trap-heavy sequel to Pray for Paris, but is dropping Hitler 11 on Halloween & in 24 hours’ notice of Still Praying.
After the “Stone” intro, the first song “Big Dump Ballad” is a soulful opener produced by Denny LaFlare talking about being the King of New York whereas “Unkle Howdy” named after former NXT Champion, WWE World Tag Team Champion & now The Wyatt Sick6 leader Bo Dallas works in a rich piano instrumental pondering tongue-kissing Madonna since the dope so good. “Cain Tejada” takes the boom bap route likening himself to a monster & “Paulin Paulin Paulin” brings the soul flare back turning 1 to 3 through the luck of the pot.
Hitler Wears Hermes X was a great place to finish the saga since it since it came out around the same timeframe as Kanye West’s infamous antisemitic meltdown, but we still got an enjoyable 15 minute listen with Hitler Wears Hermes XI. Denny LaFlare gets to shine more behind the boards since he’s most underrated member of The Heartbreakers & the FLYGOD calls to let Sly Green home without any guests.
Score: 8/10
