Since 2015, the fecund imagination of Conway the Machine has produced no less than 23 albums, mixtapes, collabs and group projects. Arguably the hottest in the game, the Griselda emcees latest catalog installment, La Maquina has been unleashed and heads are turnings as the Flygod speaks again.
The 11 track project begins as expected, with Conway seemingly stretching and warming up his lyrical ability over an uncomplicated bass line accompanied by war bells. The albums soft prelude appears to last through track 3, Blood Roses, a cadency, toy soldier march feat a fire hook and verse from fellow Buffalo emcee Jae Skeese.
Conway finds what he was searching for in his bag on track 4, Clarity, even stating before he begins rapping, “let me get it together”. One highlight of La Maquina is track 6, 200 Pies featuring one of the best 2Chainz verses we have heard in years and probably the best hook Conway has ever laid.
Any Griselda project will of course be laced with plenty of sports references and La Maquina is no different with track names like 6:30 Tip Off, KD, and the extraordinary Sister Abigail, featuring Jae Skeese and 7xvethegenius. Along with sports comes drug, jail, streets and bars and there you have Conway’s new album.
An unexpected but excellent verse from Ludacris and JID plus the obligatory Griselda posse-cut make up the rest of this rather unimpressive proposal from the Machine. With so much recent material from the upstate New York collective, maybe we didn’t need a Conway album just yet.
With that said, missing a Griselda project right now is a self-disservice. This upper-mid album is an opus for an artist of lesser ability than the Flygod and it’s sure to be one of the best Hip Hop albums of the year. Check out La Maquina below and follow Conway The Machine on all music streaming and social media platforms.