Rappin’ on the Westside: Reviewing Westside Gunn’s “Heels have Eyes pt.3”

Nate Appelbaum ’28 and Luke Brittson ’28

This month's focus will be on the album ‘Heels have Eyes pt.3’ by Westside Gunn, the third installment in Gunn’s discography just this year. I have been following these releases throughout the year, and originally I believed that if 3 decently sized albums could be released in that time, surely the quality would be absent. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by all three, but the latter, I feel is the most striking to me. Westside Gunn, most known for his role in the rap group Griselda and his instantly recognizable voice and style, utilizes a very iconic sampling and looping style in the majority of his songs, the common R&B vocals from featured artist Stove God Cooks are a great addition to a comparatively gritty soundtrack and straight-to-the-point vocals.

We thought that it would be fitting to discuss our favorite songs, their unique qualities, to disprove the ‘quality over quantity’ saying, to show that you can have your cake, and eat it too.

–Luke Brittson

I am far less familiar with Westside Gunn’s work besides for a brief Wikipedia foray, and know much less about his album cycle. However, I think that it’s an interesting concept to have closely related albums,in the way that Westside Gunn did with “Heels have Eyes” pts 1, 2, and 3. So, I am excited to dive into this music (although I likely will be more critical than Luke of the music).

Favorite song:

AMIRA KITCHEN, track 3. This song is built off layers of juxtaposition, which is what makes it interesting for me. On one hand, you have a soft and inviting piano groove with a basic drumbeat as a background. Furthermore, there is a vocal refrain which is similarly calming and has a soft feel. But the main rapping is harsh and grating, in-your-face and direct. This is accentuated by the common backing vocals of “grrs” and other shouts. But what takes this song over the top is the long spoken word section by Brother Tom Sos, which is backed by inventive and reaching horns. As the Brother contemplated on goats and gods, the horns push forward into interesting new music. The reason that this section interests me is because this section is unusual and fresh in music today. Having a long spoken-word section is not only unusual within popular music today-it is reminiscent of movements of the late 60’s and early 70’s–but it is unusual within the context of this song. Rap of today tends to focus on one idea or theme, and push that over and over again. I find this track interesting because it does the opposite–it finds new things to focus on and is varied and therefore interesting.

Least favorite:

POWER HOUSE HOBBS, track 4. This song almost directly contrasts the one immediately before it. It’s unfortunately boring, sad and static, and it has very little variation within it The backing consists of low quality noise machine effects that sound more like calming sleep in a minor key than anything else. This contradicts the pulsating keyboards and horns that came before it. This song also displays Westside Gunn’s worst rapping, which sounds more like high-pitched talking then lyrical and interesting rapping. In my opinion, great rappers can make words come together and flow like strong, rushing rivers. I would liken Gunn’s attempts during this tune more to a broken dam–short bursts of water that you probably wish had stayed in the tank. He screams his lyrics at the mic almost agonizingly slowly, giving the complete antithesis to flow and rhythm. Furthermore, his backing has almost no complexity or intrigue in my opinion.

It’s unfortunate that an album that contains songs with interesting samples could also reach these lows, but I’m still intrigued by this music because it seems a lot more complex and like it’s striving for something more than most music today.

Luke

Favorite aesthetic Song: HEEL CENA, track 2. With a very similar vibe to AMIRA KITCHEN, the song centers around a very synth loop heavy track. I personally enjoy the synth on this song a bit better. The most attractive thing about this song is most likely the unedited 90’s rock-esqe percussion that although takes away from the ‘coziness’ of the synth, provides a good add on to the gritty main vocals. Unfortunately, this song is pretty much a repetition of the majority of Westside Gunn songs, which focus mostly on fashion brands, immeasurable wealth, drug usage, drug dealing, partying, etc. I wouldn’t listen to the song for its content, but more so what it contributes to the atmosphere.

Favorite song Overall: PRICK: Brother Tom Sos is 100% a saving grace on this album. I can’t say I’ve listened to his music outside the featured songs, but his ability to shift between a silky smooth R&B vocal backing track, to a wordplay heavy feature, is an incredibly valuable asset to have, especially with an artist such as Westside Gunn who can be ‘stubborn’ in his songwriting. ‘PRICK’ is the song to me which has the most musical and verbal content. The song opens up on Sos doing an intro with him just saying ‘1,2,1,2,1 2’ but the rhythm at which it appears in ‘PRICK’ and how it correlates to the reflective piano creates not only an atmosphere of melancholy, but works well with its position in the album as it is in between 2 of the most ‘high-energy’ songs of the album, almost inviting listeners to take a break. The song itself talks about how the rise to fame can disconnect people from the world they came from, and talks about the mix of thankfulness and regret of making it out of bad places. To quote the chorus ‘“When I look outside the mirror all i see is dope fiends, but then I thank god cuz’ it could’ve been me, If it wasn’t for this art then it would’ve been me, rest in peace to all my dogs, it should’ve been me.” It’s certainly an interesting paradox of succeeding at the fall of others, and I would highly recommend giving the song a good listen as there are plenty more good lines that both artists bring to this track.