An underdog from the underground, Buffalo-bred rapper Westside Gunn brings the sounds of '90s hardcore rap into the 21st century alongside his brother and fellow emcee Conway. With their tales of street life, drugs, and gun violence, the pair have employed sample-heavy production in the gritty East Coast tradition of the Lox, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, and the Wu-Tang Clan. In addition to his work with Conway and their Griselda labelmates, Westside Gunn branched out on his own with a series of Hitler Wears Hermes mixtapes issued in the 2010s, as well as solo albums such as Flygod (2016), Supreme Blientele (2018), and Pray for Paris (2020), the latter of which cracked the upper half of the Billboard 200. The lengthy, guest-heavy full-length And Then You Pray for Me appeared in 2023 and reached the Top 30 of the same chart. The EP 11 and a mixtape, Still Praying, were released almost simultaneously in 2024.

Born Alvin Lamar Worthy in Buffalo, New York, Westside Gunn started rapping at a young age. In high school, he joined with Conway (born Demond Price) and fellow rappers Benny the Butcher and Machine Gun Black as the Forerunners. They stuck together over the years and in the early 2010s, they founded Griselda Records. In addition to output as Westside Gunn & Conway, Worthy began issuing his own mixtapes, including the Hitler Wears Hermes series, which kicked off in 2012. With his strong, steady rhymes and often laid-back production, he released five installments of the Hermes series into 2017. 

His debut studio full-length, Flygod, arrived in 2016 and featured appearances by Benny, Conway, Roc Marciano, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, and more, as well as production by Statik Selektah and the Alchemist. In 2017, Griselda inked a deal with Eminem's Shady Records, which graduated Westside Gunn to the majors. That same year, he hopped onto a collaboration with MF Doom titled WestsideDoom, and a year later he issued his sophomore LP, Supreme Blientele, which featured many familiar faces from Flygod, as well as new guests Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, Anderson .Paak, and producers Pete Rock and 9th Wonder. 

After Griselda hit the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop and rap charts with WWCD, Westside issued the solo album Pray for Paris in April 2020. DJ Premier, DJ Muggs, the Alchemist, and Tyler, The Creator were among the contributors to the set, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 67 and the R&B/hip-hop chart at 39. A second Gunn album, Who Made the Sunshine, was initially set for release that August, but it was delayed following the death of longtime Griselda Records collaborator DJ Shay from COVID-19. The album eventually appeared in October 2020 and featured appearances by Benny, Conway, Slick Rick, Black Thought, and others. Two tracks, "Julia Lang" and "TV Boy," arrived in March 2021 as the first songs released off Gunn's mixtape Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely, Adolf. Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B followed. The mixtapes Peace "Fly" God and 10 (the final installment in the Hitler Wears Hermes series) appeared in 2022. The studio album And Then You Pray for Me arrived in 2023, boasting guests like Rick Ross, DJ Drama, Denzel Curry, and Boldy James. It reached number 29 on the Billboard 200. In 2024, Gunn issued the EP 11 as well as the DJ Drama-hosted mixtape Still Praying. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

pillow makes music together in the Kansas City basement of a dad who often has to go upstairs and help put the kids to bed, or just chill with them before bed. Even though pillow can get pretty loud and aggressive (relative), the kids seem to be able to sleep through it fine. You can also stay awake and listen to their tunes. Hopefully they will have 45 cool records by the time its all said and done.

FLOORPAN "THE MASTER'S PLAN" (CLASSIC MUSIC):
https://cmc.lnk.to/cmcd141d

Before I got into this music I wanted to be an originator ; I wanted to be original".
Founding member of the legendary group Underground Resistance as a 'Minister Of Information' with ‘Mad’ Mike Banks & Jeff Mills, his seminal works on Jeff Mill's Axis and his very own M-Plant imprint paved the way for a wave of stripped-down dancefloor minimalism that directed much of techno's path throughout the late Nineties.
Robert Hood makes minimal Detroit techno with an emphasis on soul and experimentation over flash and popularity. 

"Growing up in Detroit, I grew up with Motown in the house - a lot of Motown and Philadelphia soul, artists like Marvin Gaye of course and Curtis Mayfield. I remember Isaac Hayes, the soundtrack from ‘Shaft’ had come out. My father was a jazz musician; he played piano, trumpet and drums. My mother was in an R’n’B group.
We listened to a lot of Motown - in fact, my grandfather’s first cousin is Berry Gordy.
"I was influenced by my father - I wanted to play trumpet like he did."
Robert's father tragically died when he was just 6. The photo of Robert siting down holding a trumpet is his fathers.
"I had to beg my grandmother to let me borrow the trumpet to take a picture with it"

In the early 90's he began to concentrate on his own production 'Vision EP', the 'Riot EP' and X-102 were big stepping-stones for him as they were the first releases he worked 100% on his own. The X-101 to X-102, were Waveform Transmission projects with Mills for Tresor. He slowly progressed to work more and more on his own, but collaberated on some of the first Axis releases with label owner Jeff Mills as H&M (Hood & Mills) with ‘Tranquilizer EP’ and ‘Drama’.

He soon decided it was time for him to start his own label to focus on what was in his soul musically. M-Plant started in ’94. I had developed this “grey area” sound - what I mean by that is that in Detroit, even when the sun is out, there’s something in the atmosphere. I don’t know if its pollution or whatever, but the sky has that grey haze over it. It’s got to be something from the industrial factories there. I’d never really heard a sound like that before and it came from a Roland Juno - it was a chord sound that really went along with my depiction of what Detroit was at that time. A lot of buildings were abandoned and there was a lot of lifelessness in the city, especially downtown. The M-Plant, in minimalism, kind of reflected that. I remember thinking of Detroit like a museum. You know, like a work of art standing still, suspended in time. There wasn’t a whole lot of activity going on.

Releasing singles such as "Internal Empire,", “The Protein Valve” "Music Data," and "Moveable Parts", "The Pace", more recently "Range", "Alpha" and that isn't even touching his other monikers Floorplan, Monobox, The Vision, etc.
"M-Plant is what I've always wanted to hear: the basic stripped down, raw sound. Just drums, basslines and funky grooves and only what's essential. Only what is essential to make people move. I started to look at it as a science, the art of making people move their butts, speaking to their heart, mind and soul. “It's a heart-felt rhythmic techno sound. M-Plant is just M. minimal. “

Although his desire to remain underground has been replaced by an urge to reach a wider audience, mainly via his housier, disco, gospel moniker Floorplan with his daughter Lyric Hood,   Hood remains fiercely critical of artistic and economic movements destructive to inner-city communities and has combined his musical enterprises with outreach and social activist ends.

Berghain and Khidi resident
@bitelabel head
Ostgut Ton | BITE | Jealous God
Booking: chris@elitemm.co.uk

Emerging as Phase Fatale in 2014, Berlin-based DJ, producer and label owner, Hayden Payne is rewriting the discourse of Techno with his cross-pollination of gnarly basslines, sensual narratives and mind-control mechanics. Demonstrating his vision through an authentic, highly curated sonic-lens of techno, the New York native’s rhythmic excursions draw on his roots in the underground scenes of his respective cities as well as his reputable experience performing to dancefloors globally. Exemplified by long-standing tenures as a resident for esteemed institutions such as Berlin’s Berghain as well as KHIDI in Georgia's capital Tbilisi, Payne demonstrates a resolute understanding of harnessing club synergy across his productions and DJ sets.

With three full length albums under his belt, including the 2020 sophomore release ‘Scanning Backwards’ on Berghain’s imprint Ostgut Ton, Payne’s sonic signature pushes the boundaries of techno sensibilities and reflects the zeitgeist whilst staying true to his own vision. Wasting no time since his solo project’s inception to showcase his expert sonic ability, Payne has toured throughout Europe performing at renowned clubs and festivals worldwide, releasing numerous records on labels including Jealous God, Ostgut Ton, and his own label BITE.

Payne launched the BITE imprint in 2018 as a means to platform cutting-edge sound production across a diverse roster of international artists. Along with fellow Soft Crash protagonist Pablo Bozzi pioneering ‘Italo Body Music’, BITE’s seminal synthesis of curated techno solidifies the label as a tour de force taste-maker within electronic music with showcases worldwide including Berghain and their 5 year anniversary compilation ‘Shedding Skin’ in 2023.

Hailing from post-punk roots, Payne draws on his depth of musical knowledge and multitude of influences. His merging of nuanced references and high concept narratives remain geared towards the dancefloor at its core, subtleties of his multifarious sonic palette act as the foundations for his layered wall of sound.

FALSE BROTHER is following