Westside Gunn's '12' album review

Westside Gunn is arguably the most well-known and commercially successful member of Griselda—the Buffalo-based independent record label which he co-founded in 2012. Throughout his career, Westside Gunn has released numerous mixtapes, EPs, and studio albums, earning the reputation as one of the most prominent figures in underground hip-hop during the 2010s.

For over a decade, Westside Gunn’s output has been incredibly consistent, oftentimes releasing multiple projects in a calendar year. This was the case in 2024 when he released the mixtape Still Praying, in addition to the EP 11. Now, just a few months later, he has returned with yet another release.

Westside Gunn’s latest project, 12, is the 12th installment in the Hitler Wears Hermes series, which started back in 2012. He previously released the 11th installment on Halloween of last year; although it was only a short 5-song EP. On the other hand, 12 has the feel of a complete album with 11 songs and a total runtime of over 43 minutes. 

Many of the songs on the album feel like what we have come to expect from Westside Gunn, both in terms of the gritty content matter and the sample-heavy production. And while the album is lacking in the immense highs that projects like Pray for Paris and HWH8 had, the tracklist still has a fair amount of quality throughout its condensed runtime.

The song “055” is one of the album’s biggest highlights. The soul sample gives it a unique sound compared to the rest of the tracklist. Stove God Cooks, who is featured on five of the 11 songs on 12, gives arguably his best performance on the album on “055.”

“Health Science” and “Gumbo Yaya,” both of which feature Brother Tom Sos, are among the project’s stronger tracks, as are the two songs that end the album, “Outlander” and “Dump World.” 

The main weakness of the album is not necessarily relating to any of the songs themselves. It’s more to do with the fact that much of it sounds similar to previous Westside Gunn releases, whether in song content or presentation. The second half of the tracklist also stands out over the first half as having almost all of the album’s big highlights.

Overall, the mixtape is on par with Westside Gunn’s recent releases like Still Praying. Yet, it fails to reach the same level as an album like Pray for Paris, which is widely considered to be his best body of work. Even still, 12 is a worthy addition to the HWH series and a good project altogether.

Overall Rating: 7/10