Authenticity is an immeasurably important quality in hip-hop music, and often times that very realness translates directly into the music being made. And while this tends to make for the most memorable music, it's not entirely commonplace for artists to practice what they preach. In the case of Benny The Butcher, who recently dropped off his new album Burden Of Proof, bringing his life's story to the booth is an integral part of what drives him. It's no wonder that making his latest project, crafted entirely with Hit-Boy, was enough to move the rapper to tears.
Hit-Boy himself took a moment to praise Benny's vulnerability, revealing that he and Nipsey Hussle were the only artists he's ever seen cry in the studio. "Only 2 artists cried in the stu while making a record with me in the last couple years," he writes, taking to Twitter following the project's big release. "Nipsey Hussle when he recorded the second verse on “racks in the middle” and Benny The Butcher on “thank god I made it” Real gangsta shit if you ask me. It’s spiritual at this point."
As for the song in question, it's no surprise that the subject matter covered in "Thank God I Made It" brought Benny to such an emotional place. "You made me the man I am today, I never told you," he raps, in a powerful dedication to his mother. "Dressed me in hand me down 'cause you couldn't afford Polo/ How it feel to see your two oldest boys' names on logos?" As the opening verse closes, Benny pens a few bars for his late brother, whose presence can be felt moving forward. "I look in my nephew eyes and I see my brother," he reflects. "Sometimes I gotta look away 'cause it hurt so much / how that ni**a died so young and he was worth so much?"
Be sure to support Benny The Butcher by streaming Burden Of Proof right here.