Benny The Butcher Vinyl, CD & Tape

Uncensored and Authentic from the Underground

Jeremie Pennick’s youth in the 90s consisted of the Wu-Tang Clan , Mobb Deep , and the New York horrorcore scene, into which he later immersed himself: at the tender age of ten, he knew he wanted to be a musician. With a DJ as a father, Pennick grew up in the heart of the East Coast and released numerous mixtapes as B.E.N.N.Y. from 2004 onwards. Among other things, the Chains Bond Tape generated initial hype before he, along with Conway the Machine, Westside Gunn, and other friends, founded the Griselda label and collective in 2012, which would support him for his releases. At the same time, he recorded underground gangsta records with the “Black Soprano Family”:Black Soprano Family, which he had founded with close ties to Griselda, capturing the street life of New York on dark and rugged beats. “Authenticity is our thing,” the crew says about themselves, and this uncensored authentic approach is also evident in Benny’s solo releases, such as his 2016 EP 17 Bullets. “My life runnin‘ like I’m in a movie,” Benny says there, and given his lyrics about street life and gang stories, we believe him immediately. But records like My First Brick in the same year and his collaboration with DJ Green Lantern on Butchers On Steroids made waves in the New York underground as well.

Street Stories from New Perspectives

The mass of releases that the Butcher accumulated throughout the late 2000s is hardly manageable, as the rapper delved into various realms. Even before the brutal verses of the Buffalo native were showcased on Tana Talk 3 , the Griselda label signed with Shady Records, allowing Eminems Interscope offshoot to distribute their records from then on. This propelled the entire crew forward, especially Benny, who consistently manages to tell his street stories from new perspectives. With The Alchemist, an expert in head-nodding beats, behind the sampler, the debut album Tana Talk 3 creates an almost cinematic atmosphere that only brings us closer to the rapper in terms of storytelling. Guest verses from industry giants like Pusha T and Black Thought of Roots have become the norm, as seen on the successful EP The Plugs I Met in 2019. Another milestone was reached with the album Burden of Proof , released a year later, which propelled the Butcher into the Billboard Top 30 for the first time and saw him sharing the mic with legends like Rick Ross and Freddie Gibbs . Benny delivers his stories with a level of aggression and conviction like never before, now getting straight to the point.

The New Cinematic Voice in Rap

“The Butcher has a gift and no fear” – and above all, he doesn‘t take a break: the EP The Plugs I Met 2 presents him, alongside 2 Chainz and Fat Joe, in his prime in his late 30s and received favorable looks both in the charts and in the music press. Benny slowly developes into an essential voice in US rap , and a melancholic yet cinematic one at that – thanks in part to the beats coming from Harry Fraud. Benny’s management contract with Jay-Zs label Roc Nation established the rapping butcher to the point where he signed with Def Jam at the end of 2021, and even locked himself in the studio with Snoop Dogg , Busta Rhymes , and Jadakiss for the track Murder Music. On Tana Talk 4 a year later, he reveales himself as personal as ever, describing his own wounds and regrets about the past: “Being honest, this could be karma I probably deserve in the first place.” In 2020, he had been shot and had to spend some time in a wheelchair, which he processed on the album. But honesty is at the forefront for Benny: “When I speak about these things, I don’t talk about them to glorify it,” says the Butcher.