Choosing between Eminem and Jay-Z’s labels, Westside Gunn picked Shady Records for their impressive record in making hip hop movies.
Griselda Records had enough weight to be coveted by two legendary figures in the industry, tells Westside Gunn to Math Hoffa on the “My Expert Opinion” podcast. Even Royce da 5’9 had his eyes on the Buffalo artists for a hot minute, but Westside Gunn was plotting a long game:
Royce was cool, still to this day. But at the same time, no disrespect to Royce, that’s my brother, being a hungry East Side Buffalo that’s trying to stop selling drugs, I got the opportunity to sign to the biggest artist of all time — it’s a no-brainer because my options were Marshall or Hov. I was always like, yo. I’m not going to sign. Because you got to think Paul Rosenberg had Shady, and then he had the management Goliath. So when I first even started going over there talking, I was going over there for Goliath. It was not even signing to the Shady because I only wanted to be Griselda Records. ‘Cause I was already me! This is after the Fly God album. But, you know, Shady, they had the movies. “8 Mile”, “Get Rich Or Die Tryin’”… I’m thinking already ahead like, yo, Griselda story is… If they see this East Side Buffalo, we’re outta here. As long as I can get them to make this movie, it’s over, because I know the story. I watched their stories, but I know this story. So, I’m just like, let me finesse… Like I said, Roc Nation had the label and management, and Paul had the label and management. So, I’m like, I can sign one and be managed by one. What am I thinking? I can be the first nigga that could be signed to Jay-Z and then managed by Paul and Marshall, or I could sign to Marshall and be managed by Jay-Z. So, let me go with this movie route and all this shit and still be backed by Hov. And that’s how I made my decision. And no disrespect to Royce, but that could not happen that way doing that.
Neither it happened the way Westside Gunn had dreamt about. The Griselda artists bowed out of the contract as soon as their obligations were fulfilled. And we have never heard from Shady Records about any intentions to make another movie. So, maybe this is the reason Westside Gunn has left the Shady stables somewhat under the cloud.
Watch the video below:
