Westside Gunn is back like he said he would be.
The Buffalo rapper and Griselda Records head honcho dropped a project today entitled 12. The tape is 11 tracks long and features Estee Nack, Stove God Cooks, Brother Tom Sos, AA Rashid and Eljiah Hook, plus production from The Standouts, Denny Laflare, Daringer, Crucial Guillotine, Cee Gee, Myles and Conductor Williams. Earlier this week, he surprised fans with the lead single and announced the release date.
Gunn said last year that he would get back to “dumpin’,’ and so far, he’s delivered on his promise — as this is the third project he’s released since Halloween of 2024, when he dropped the five-song 11 EP. He then came out with Still Praying the next day, with late Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious on the cover. And Westside has no plans of letting up anytime soon, as he looks to finish up the Fly God trilogy this year — and he finally wants to give fans his Michelle Records collab tape with Stove God, something the two have been teasing for a while now.
Earlier today, Gunn shot a promo from Tokyo aimed at his fellow rappers and posted it on his X account. “Can’t nobody f—k with me. I’m that one,” he sang to himself, before telling us that our favorite rapper isn’t really that good. “Listen, your favorite rapper is f—kin’ trash. We don’t need no gimmicks over here, none of that f—kery. This sh—t is art, this sh—t is culture. Them n—as need 50 n—as in the office and it’s only me rockin’ all this f—kin’ Louis Vuitton just being Super Fly Godzilla, man. We live in f—kin’ Tokyo, we got the hottest album in the street.”
With that being said, check out our rankings of every song on 12.
Producer(s): Cee Gee
Gunn decides to mellow things out towards the middle of the tape, and lets one of Griselda’s newest signees Brother Tom Sos get some shine. He’s nice, but this song feels out of place compared to the maniacal raps of Estee Nack and Stove God. Maybe some will welcome the change of pace. I would’ve dug this more as Sos’ sole interlude, or something like that.
Producer(s): Daringer
Another Brother Tom Sos feature, and I like this one a little better. The newcomer does this chill Daringer beat justice, and impresses with the way he delivers the chorus. But the real star of the show is the Buffalo producer, who loops a horn sample masterfully.
Producer(s): Conductor Williams
“Conductor, we have a problem! Conductor!”
We finally get a beat from one of the hottest producers in the game right now, and he shows off his versatility with this one. His production is less chaotic and theatrical on this track, as he decides to loop a soul sample for Gunn and Stove to hold court over. However, the best part of the song is the mini-biography of Sly Green at the end by Elijah Hook.
Producer(s): Denny Laflare & Cee Gee
Just a day in the life of a couple guys that sound like they really live their raps. The production is laid back, as Gunn and Nack do what they do best by telling us about their exploits. I hope we get to bust some to this track on Grand Theft Auto 6.
Producer(s): Denny Laflare
I assumed Stove would’ve been on this, because of the name — but that doesn’t matter. Gunn and Estee do what has to be done over a ridiculously haunting beat provided by Denny Laflare. There’s not a better genre of rap than the reality rap genre, or “gangsta rap” as “they” like to call it. Give me that street fly s–t any day of the week.
Producer(s): Crucial Guillotine
“055” is real soulful like a gospel song, and Stove God is the pastor on the pulpit giving us the Good Word of Dope and Hope. Then you have Westside testifying that he has a “canary 911, but the truck red.” Whatever you do, just make sure to “praise both” — and as AA Rashid says at the end, “this sounds heavenly.”
Producer(s): Denny Laflare
Named after pro wrestler Adam “The Hangman” Page, this track sounds like something you might’ve heard on a Wu-Tang album and Stove God raps, “I just shot dice with the aliens on the mothership,” like he was possessed by the soul of the Ghostface Killah.
Producer(s): Myles
This sounds like victory. This sounds like triumph. He’s rapping about slaving over stoves with Bottega trainers on and it’s as vivid as a Tarantino picture. Not to mention that this beat was produced by Griselda affiliate Rick Hyde’s teenage son.
The kids are gonna be alright.
Producer(s): Daringer
This is the song that was teased at the end of the “Outlander” video Gunn dropped recently and I’ve wanting to hear it because Estee was going crazy. Fortunately, the track didn’t disappoint. Nack spits, “Witch doctor, raps and cracks, I’m a philosopher/ The Pyrex, I could be a partner” Also, it looks like Stove God is back. He said, “The Virgil rug say “Rug”/ The plug name in my phone say, “Plug.”
Producer(s): The Standouts
First of all, this sounds like a cartoon car chase. Second of all, Gunn is one of the more underrated lyricists in the game. He’s always good for a funny one-liner and he has a couple on here. The lines, “Blew a kiss at the C.O. like I’m Golddust” and “I don’t know Spanish, but for work I’ma speak some,” stood out for me.
We also get a heavy dosage of Stove Good Cooks, and he says some ridiculous things himself like, “I don’t even need a boat, hop out and walk on the water/My plug stuck at the border, how I’m supposed to get the order?/10k for the court seats and I only stayed for a quarter.” And I can’t forget Estee’s Spanglish raps, where he raps in his signature stream of consciousness style, where he’s talking about throwing baby mothers off of ferris wheels.
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