When you think of gangsta rap being from a city in New York State, Buffalo is probably near the bottom of the list. Conway The Machine is well aware of this. In the song “Tito’s Back” off his recent studio album Look What I Became, he raps “We ain’t from a borough.” Look What I Became is a 28-minute EP, and a precursor to God Don’t Make Mistakes, which, when released in October, will be Conway’s first major-label release.
Conway is 37 years old, practically ancient in rap years, especially for a newcomer to the scene. Yet his relative age gives him an advantage; he naturally has more material to write about and has the authenticity to back it up.
Conway occupies the lane Pusha-T carved out: grimy street rap about dealing cocaine. He is an expert at making his stories sound real. In fact, his signature lisp is from a bullet wound that paralyzed half his face, something he explores on the skit “Bell’s Palsy.”
This injury and subsequent paralysis are central themes in all of Conway’s music. The album cover for Look What I Became is actually an edited photo from his stay in the hospital, giving the title a whole new meaning—Conway has overcome his struggles with Bell’s Palsy and improved himself in spite of them. This idea hints at one of the album’s central themes: growth.
Throughout the album, Conway consistently contrasts his braggadocio raps against bars about very real struggles that he went through. On “Tito’s Back” he raps “Used to flush the toilet with water in the bucket / Now my neck lookin’ like some frozen water in the bucket,” and on “Black Spoons” he raps “Refrigerator broke, it ain’t got no ice, leave that cold water in the sink on / Rockin’ that brick, got my Dior pink on / Uh, rockin’ that shit, I don’t got nothing cheap on.”
The album is cohesive overall, and while Conway does branch out in his beat selection and topic, all songs still have his signature grimy sound. “Half of It” is a faster-paced trap beat, a sound very different from the traditional slow and spooky beats that have dominated his earlier work. The innovation works. “Half of It” is one of the best songs on the album, Conway sounds aggressive and sharp over the faster-paced beat. While his lyrics are not especially clever, they are raw and authentic. His tight delivery and guttural voice make anything he spits sound good.
The EP is not without flaws. While “Tito’s Back” had the potential to be an excellent track, it is brought down by strange song structure. The track is a collaboration between Conway, Benny and Westside Gunn, a trio that has consistently released excellent songs. Benny and Conway seamlessly trade bars to start and then follow with a strong chorus. Yet instead of following up with a verse, Westside Gunn decides to spend a minute bragging about how rich he is. While novel the first time, this weird interlude ultimately kills any replay value the track might have had.
Similar blunders are unfortunately common on the album. Conway has a bad habit of making vague threats at the end of his songs, sometimes spending upwards of a minute talking aimlessly about how tough he is. These awkward outros have little structure and seem to be randomly thrown in throughout the album.
Despite this, Look What I Became remains a solid listen. This short EP is a wonderful appetizer to Conway’s full album releasing in October.