Don’t Sleep #17

Benny the Butcher - The Plugs I Met

THE BUTCHER COMING NIGGA!! It’s hard for me not to yell that shit nowadays. This is the third album from the Buffalo rapper Benny I’ve written about since starting this blog. I had Stabbed & Shot and Tana Talk 3 tied for number 2 on my 2018 Top 5 albums list, which would probably look different if I did it over. I feel like I’ve mentioned Benny or someone from the Griselda team in at least half the articles I’ve written this year and I’m completely content with that they deserve it, they’re on all my favorite rappers shit. The Plug I Met is a seven track project by a guy who I can say occupied plenty of my music time before releasing this tape and even more after. Benny has made a living with Drug raps and with this Tape the formula did not change, he just brought along some of the best rappers of all time on this trip.

I think the intro should be experienced for self so I’m just gonna jump right into Crowns for Kings. The beat that fellow buffalo native DJ Slay put together for Benny is hypnotic to say the least. The sample alongside that brass is a super combination. But that alone wouldn’t make this record as amazing as it. Benny’s strong tone and slick wordplay carries the song past great. Then you throw in one of the greatest rappers to ever blink in Black Thought, whom I never heard a subpar verse from, just comes out and gives us like two minutes of Dylan. After what Thought did, for Benny to be able to stand next to him without it being a wash is a testament to his dopeness. Anyone else may have had a real big problem surviving a Black Thought verse of that caliber. Shoutout the Black Godfather Clarence Avant too.

Took the Money to the Plug’s House is a Benny solo mission. Something about when Benny connects with The Alchemist, it never feels like a regular record almost cinematic in a way. I can’t tell y’all how many times I’ve closed my eyes and just watched the film they created. There so many layers to that instrumental it demands special attention to grasps all its glory. You can only get this level of street storytelling if you’ve lived the shit you are talking about. Its as he’s just breaking down game film on a beat, there’s a clear play by play on how he moves in the life he lived in the streets. I’ve never sold any type of drug in life but when Benny speaks on it it feels like I can break the game down to anyone.

I feel like Benny made it his business to go into the booth and give us the cadence that everyone is using in the game but make it super tough. 5 to 50 feels like a statement record, like Benny was just like “yeah I can give y’all my usual shit but let me show y’all just how much better I am than y’all.” My first listen had me shaking my head in disbelief that Benny still has more in the repertoire because he‘s already leaping past the competition with every album release. I feel confident in saying this is the best song on the album and that this song is lowkey a declaration of war to the rest of the rappers in the game. One thing I was thinking before hearing this song is Benny doesn’t really step out of his usual style much but then he showed that; not only can he step out, he can retain everything we love about his usual style. I highly recommend this song to any fan of Hip Hop.

Usually when artists crank out music as fast as the Griselda guys do you anticipate a dip in quality at some point. They don’t allow you to even get the chance, they don’t miss. Benny has given us some of the best albums to drop for a good minute and now he’s being featured on all the street rappers’ music, I love it. Griselda feels like when Dipset was on everything with no signs of slowing down. I’m so happy that they are being embraced by everyone because it’s a sign that real rap could never die, no matter what’s going on in the industry, you still have to be nice when we talking Legacy. The Plugs I Met has put Benny in that conversation for Best Album of the Year once again and I don’t think this is the last release from The Butcher this year so we’ll see if he’ll top it.

I wanna thank Benny for inspiring me to write this article and for me to keep working on my shit. For the Griselda guys to have such an amazing catalogue and to just start getting the notoriety that’s deserved is eye opening. They been dope for years and now everyone is getting to really see it and I feel like I’ve been releasing quality work for a minute. Once everyone catches up I know they’ll go back and say “damn he has been that nice.” Y’all showed me what just doing your shit and waiting for your opportunity looks like, I appreciate that.