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HOW DOES GRISELDA RECORDS BUSINESS MODEL WORK?

April 5, 2021

by Son Raw


From the moment Rapper’s Delight blew up and made Hip Hop a music industry
concern, emcees have been open about the intersection of art and commerce. From
the earliest party rocking emcees exhorting crowds to ‘get money,’ to
entrepreneurs like E-40 and Master P creating the blueprint for a generation of
hustlers turned artists, the pursuit of profit has always been central to Hip
Hop, an art form created and practiced by a generation often locked out of
traditional paths to success. Through much of its history, the road to riches
was clear: move units, and lots of them, with the most popular acts getting rich
off a high volume, low margin model. Today however, Griselda, one of Hip Hop’s
most exciting acts, have flipped this foundation on its head. Why chase after
streaming pennies when you can sell vinyl and hoodies at 75$ a pop to an
in-the-know fanbase?

Emerging out of Buffalo New York, a rust belt city with more in common with Gary
Indiana and Detroit Michigan than money making Manhattan, brothers Westside Gunn
and Conway The Machine, along with their cousin Benny The Butcher, were on the
outside looking in when it came to the music industry. Despite honing a unique
rhyme style built on a strong foundation of classic Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep and Ruff
Ryders, landing a traditional record deal wasn’t in the cards, particularly
given their careers only began gaining momentum when the rappers were in their
mid 30s. While the crew had been active since the mid 2000s, complete with
mixtapes featuring Roc-a-Fella era beats, jail bids and personal setbacks,
including an attempt on Conway’s life, slowed their path to success – no small
issue in Hip Hop’s youth-centric market To make matters worse, the collapse of
the traditional music industry and rise of streaming meant little opportunity
for a traditional independent label operation, given that mainstream tastes were
shifting towards the more melodic, pop-friendly tropes of mainstream Trap.
Countless rappers bemoaned this state of affairs, but under the leadership of
Westside Gunn, Griselda were the ones to crack the code, taking their gritty,
East Coast influenced style of rap and veteran status from a liability to an
asset.

The key was creativity, collectivity and partnerships. Building a massive
catalog in just a few years, the crew flooded the internet with releases, all
while keeping quality high, effectively building the Griselda Cinematic
Universe. Albums like Flygod, From A King To a God, and Tana Talk 3 are dark,
weird, authentic and just left of center enough to attract a diverse coalition
of early adopters: Hip Hop purists pining for the Cuban Linx era, backpackers
bored by pop rap’s simplicity, and industry tastemakers like Eminem and Jay-Z
seeking heirs to carry the torch for hardcore Hip Hop. It was the perfect set
up: while the mainstream was focused on teenage sensations and emo-trap,
Griselda was tapping into a vast underserved market of 30+ rap fans who still
hungered for new music, but that weren’t inclined towards autotune or 808s.
Further, Whereas most acts would parlay this attention into a bid for mainstream
acceptance however, Griselda kept their product exclusive and their profit
margins high, picking up where Los Angeles legend Nipsey Hustle left off with
his 100$ mixtapes. Partnering with UK Boutique label Daupe!, Griselda releases
its music in high quality, limited edition runs. Available at a variety of
formats, price points and editions from standard CDs to colored vinyl to
ultra-limited “obi strip” editions originally meant for the Japanese market, the
releases sell out in minutes with fans snapping up copies like they were Supreme
drops. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good, incentivizing collectivity not
only for the music’s sake, but as limited-edition art, and as a store of value.

This streetwear connection is no coincidence given Griselda’s full name – GxFR –
stands for Griselda Fashion Rebels. Whether rocking a Fendi stocking as a face
mask or a Balenciaga coat on an album cover turned billboard, Westside Gunn’s
taste for high fashion stands in contrast to the hoodies n’ timbs simplicity
most associated with underground rap. Instead, both he and his partners have
flipped designer gear into streetwear, providing the fashion world with edgy new
icons while piquing the interest of hype beasts looking for the latest in
cutting edge clothing. It’s an approach mirrored in their own clothing lines.
Whereas the record label secured partnerships for its limited-edition wax, the
majority of Griselda’s merchandise is designed, manufactured and shipped in
house by Westside Gunn and his team. While the vinyl is exclusive, Griselda
hoodies and t-shirts remain relatively accessible by rap and streetwear
standards, and it’s not unusual for Gunn’s Instagram stories to show piles upon
piles of shirts heading out for delivery, with his team working around the clock
to fulfil orders. The result is a virtuous cycle: fans are drawn in by the
uniqueness of Griselda’s music and the authenticity of their image, buying into
the brand via merch and limited-edition physical copies. This ensures that the
group never has to chase playlist placements – their defiance and refusal to fit
into the standard industry mould is at the heart of their appeal. Building on
this solid foundation, you can now find Westside Gunn at Louis Vuitton runway
shows and collaborating with names such as Virgil Abloh, as sure a sign as any
that the crew has made it.

Of course, there were bumps in the road along the way. The group famously signed
with Shady Records in 2017, a move that failed to boost their profile. But while
that collaboration may not have broken the group to mainstream audiences, it’s
become increasingly clear that the Griselda business model hasn’t even begun to
reach its full potential. Group members Benny and Conway are now signing acts to
their own labels, BSF and Drumwork built around a similar approach, while the
group’s success has spawned an entire cottage industry of post-Boom-Bap artists
selling exclusive product for premium prices, from veterans like Roc Marciano
and Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs to up and coming acts like Rome Streets, Flee Lord
and Hus Kingpin. On the merch side meanwhile, Westside Gunn just opened the
first flagship store for his Buffalo Kids clothing line this month, to record
breaking lines at Buffalo’s Walden Galleria mall, even amidst the Covid-19
pandemic.



Hip Hop is primarily youth culture, but Griselda’s success proves that there are
successful careers to be made by catering to more experienced and discerning
fans ready to pay a premium price to support a more exclusive, underground
strain of rap music. With Westside Gunn and Benny The Butcher under Roc Nation
management, and acts from Travis Scott to Drake reportedly lining up for
features, it’s likely that their intersection of classic East Coast-inspired
coke rap and streetwear aesthetics is just getting started.


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author

SON RAW

Son Raw is a Montreal based music journalist, producer and DJ specializing in
Hip Hop, Grime, Dancehall and related music.

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