美国国家公共电台 NPR Griselda Set Out To Be Your Favorite Rapper's Favorite Rappers. It's Paying Off

Griselda Set Out To Be Your Favorite Rapper's Favorite Rappers. It's Paying Off

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now we have the story of a rap trio from Buffalo¹, N.Y. Over the past 12 months, they have put out eight records, including their major label debut². And they have earned the vocal³ support of hip-hop's legends. Frannie Kelley has more.

FRANNIE KELLEY, BYLINE⁴: Your favorite rapper's favorite rapper is a title which implies that beyond the charts and the awards, there's a more meaningful ranking system.

WESTSIDE GUNN: Our popularity really comes from, like, the OGs, you know, co-signing us and saying like - yo, this is what we miss; this is what we love; this is where we come from; this is the cloth we cut from.

KELLEY: Westside Gunn is one of the founders⁵ of Griselda, a record label whose most prominent signees are Westside, his brother Conway...

CONWAY THE MACHINE: I go by the name of Conway the Machine.

KELLEY: ...And their cousin Benny.

BENNY THE BUTCHER: It's Benny the Butcher.

KELLEY: Two years ago, Griselda signed with Eminem's Shady Records, and this year they also signed a management deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. The day after Thanksgiving, Griselda released its major label debut. The album opens with the voice of yet another legend - the Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon.

(SOUNDBITE OF GRISELDA SONG, "MARCHELLO [FT. RAEKWON THE CHEF]")

RAEKWON: And I'm sitting here seeing the demographics of what Griselda's about. And I love it. I appreciate it. It's like a breath of fresh air.

KELLEY: The demographics of what Griselda is about refer to the people of Buffalo, N.Y. Westside describes his city.

WESTSIDE GUNN: Buffalo is very, very poor. Like, our tallest building in our city isn't taller than the building we in right now.

KELLEY: Sitting on the 19th floor of a 32-story building in Midtown Manhattan, Conway says you can hear what's going on in Buffalo in Griselda's music.

CONWAY THE MACHINE: It's like a black cloud over Buffalo. And I think our music reflect those type of feelings of despair and hopelessness. We put that in the lyrics⁶ and the beats we choose.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRUISER WEIGHT COKE")

GRISELDA: (Rapping) Comfortable in my own hood⁷, same type of time that Nip was on - God bless the dead. But I already beat the odds⁸ 'cause they say gangsters⁹ never live this long.

KELLEY: The hip-hop that's currently on the radio and performed on the festival circuit is melodic¹⁰ and fun. But when people talk about classic hip-hop, they usually have in mind some regional variation on hard-nosed street rap, which centers the stories of people living like they are in Buffalo right now, where almost half of the children live below the poverty line.

Kris Ex is a writer who's been covering rap music since the early '90s.

KRIS EX: People might say, like - why is street rap still necessary? - or like, we've already told these stories. The question becomes, why is there still so much violent crime in these cities? Nothing is being done about it, so they still have to speak about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU MADE IT")

CONWAY THE MACHINE: (Rapping) Working all them double shifts to keep that food up on the shelf. You ain't let it knock you down, ain't let it stress you. Heard you opened your own business, you gon' be successful. And you hurting inside. I can see it in your eyes. I know you ain't been the same since your kids' father's demise¹¹.

KELLEY: The members of Griselda have become folk heroes. Hoodies with their faces on them are coveted¹², and Middle America is getting tattoos¹³ of their logo. A lot of that has to do with the dramatic biographies they've recounted in song. Benny singles out his cousin's story.

BENNY THE BUTCHER: Conway - like, you look at his situation, what he been through - how many people do you know who survived that - let alone one of the best rappers out?

KELLEY: In 2012, Conway was shot in the head. For a while, he was paralyzed from the neck down, but he eventually recovered the use of everything except the right side of his face.

CONWAY THE MACHINE: It's a feel-good story. The underdog came in and won.

(SOUNDBITE OF WESTSIDE GUNN SONG, "THE COW [FT. CONWAY THE MACHINE]")

CONWAY THE MACHINE: (Rapping) After I got shot in my head, I seen my face, like - I'm done with this [expletive]. Trying to spit my verses and mumbling¹⁴ and [expletive], face twisted up, looking ugly and [expletive]. That Bell's palsy had me looking like I had a stroke.

KRIS EX: If you were shot in the back of your head while sitting in your car and you're processing that...

KELLEY: Again, Kris Ex.

KRIS EX: ...You don't make one song about that. And because these guys aren't commercial minded, they're just like, the freedom of us putting out multiple records per year and not having to please some sort of radio demographic means that we can actually realistically use this to explain what these stories are.

KELLEY: For Griselda, staying true to who they are has paid off, says Westside Gunn.

WESTSIDE GUNN: People thought this lifestyle couldn't be popular. You had to have the radio hit; you had to have the song in the club. And we're showing you that you don't. We look great. We live great. Our families is eating. Everybody have a great life - you know what I'm saying? - off of street rap and boom bap.

KELLEY: Griselda's big year is a big win for the timeless over the trendy.

For NPR News, I'm Frannie Kelley.

1 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

6 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

7 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

8 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

9 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

10 melodic   

adj.有旋律的，调子美妙的

参考例句：

• His voice had a rich melodic quality.他的音色浑厚而优美。
• He spoke with a soft husky voice in a melodic accent.他微微沙哑的声音带着一种悠扬的口音。

11 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

12 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。