Westside Gunn’s "And Then You Pray For Me": What We Know

Westside Gunn’s next album, And Then You Pray For Me, is slated to be released this coming Friday, June 23. He announced the album’s release date back in April on the third anniversary of his 2020 studio album, Pray For Paris. In that announcement, he referred to And Then You Pray For Me as a sequel to Pray For Paris. He paid tribute to the late Virgil Abloh in that same post, who designed the album’s cover. 

The album’s title refers to a lyric on Westside’s song, “Eric B.” where he raps, “Pray for Paris, then you pray for me.” Since Pray For Paris, Westside Gunn has not exactly slowed down in releasing music. In 2020, he also released the Flygod Is An Awesome God II project and his major label debut for Shady Records, Who Made the Sunshine. Additionally, he released the two-part Hitler Wears Hermes 8 album and, most recently, 10 at the end of last year. 

Additionally, Westside Gunn is releasing And Then You Pray For Me just in time for Paris Fashion Week. This is on-brand for him as he is heavily immersed in the fashion world. Currently, there is limited information available about the details of the album, including the artwork and tracklist. Let's take a look at what we know about Westside Gunn's forthcoming album.

Pray For Paris featured a stacked tracklist, including features from Joey Bada$$, Tyler, The Creator, Wale, Freddie Gibbs, and Roc Marciano. Of course, the album included Griselda family members Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher. The list of producers on the album was also quite impressive. DJ Muggs, Daringer, Beat Butcha, DJ Premier, The Alchemist, Tyler, The Creator, and more lent their talents. Upon its release, the album was critically acclaimed, and fans held it in high regard among his best albums like Flygod and Supreme Blientele. 

Westside Gunn announced the new album in the Pray For Paris anniversary post. He wrote that his upcoming release will be "a different kind of art piece." Although he has continued to tease And Then You Pray For Me since the initial announcement, he has a tendency not to stick to album release dates. However, the fact that he consistently promotes the album is a good sign.

This month, Westside Gunn shared a snippet of an unreleased song from And Then You Pray For Me. The song features his distinctive nasal tone and plenty of adlibs, all backed by a signature Griselda boom-bap beat produced by Jr Swiftz. In the song, Westside Gunn mentions being on the top floor of a penthouse, where he's recording the video from, and talks about his deals with Roc Nation and Shady Records. He assured fans in the caption that And Then You Pray For Me is "dropping very soon." If this snippet reflects the sound of the new album, Westside Gunn fans are sure to be satisfied.

The most recent update from Westside Gunn about his new album was a post of him and his brother, Conway The Machine. He is pictured posing with Conway, who recently broke his leg. The post’s caption fuels excitement for a Hall & Nash collaboration between Westside Gunn and Conway on the new album. The two often feature each other on their albums along with Benny The Butcher, but a Hall & Nash song often sees the two trading bars back and forth, like on their 2015 collaborative mixtape titled Hall & Nash. Conway The Machine’s latest album, Won’t He Do It, featured Gunn on the song “Brucifix.” Gunn also wrote in his caption that And Then You Pray For Me will continue Griselda’s dominance.

Griselda often churns out multiple albums in a single year between all three members and the artists on their label. Last year, Westside Gunn announced many other upcoming projects that remain unreleased. These include the Michelle Records compilation, which he promoted throughout last year, along with Flygod is an Awesome God 3.

He had also been teasing multiple collaborative albums, including WWCD 2 with Griselda, the Madlib-produced Gunnlib project, a full-length sequel to Hall & Nash, and a Griselda album by Just Blaze. Although many of these previously announced albums most likely won't see the light of day, the imminent release of Westside Gunn's next album is exciting for fans. Hopefully, And Then You Pray For Me lives up to expectations as a sequel to Pray For Paris.

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