Slant Face Killah

Since dropping *WON’T HE DO IT* in 2023, Conway the Machine began teasing that the album was merely one-half of a hip-hop diptych. Though the Buffalo-bred rapper abandoned the austere working title *Side B* for the more definitive *Slant Face Killah*, the auspicious arrival of this hour-long set fulfills his promise to further its predecessor’s high-caliber, highly diversified vibes. It does that, to be sure, with the Griselda vet turned Drumwork don laying waste to beats as unconventional as “Raw!” or as comfortably familiar as “Milano Nights.” Beyond his now undeniable, possibly innate ability to convincingly convey his unique voice and learned perspective, the cunning spitter brings along an impressive roster of guests like Ab-Soul, Key Glock, and Larry June that showcases both his reach and his taste. Method Man may never have truly left rap, but “Meth Back!” has him sounding downright exuberant on the mic, heading up a tight posse cut that also includes SK Da King and Flee Lord. Conway did that, as he did before with the esteemed Wu-Tang clansman on 2020’s *From King to A GOD*. The feature flexes continue almost unabated, tapping Pro Era’s Joey Bada\$$ for “Vertino” and the notorious Swizz Beatz for the Jamaican beat-switcher “Ninja Man.” While the Griselda’s core trio was represented on the other side of *WON’T HE DO IT*, he brings a couple of its more recent cohorts in for the back half. Jay Worthy sips freely from his pimp cup for the boastful “Surf & Turf,” while coke-rap dynamo Stove God Cooks emerges from the kitchen for the far grittier “Mutty,” both tracks produced by Conductor Williams himself.