CONWAY THE MACHINE, GOD DON’T MAKE MISTAKES

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

02/25/2022 

When Conway dropped Piano Love in 2021 after teasing the release of God Don’t Make Mistakes for a while, things got pretty interesting, The Alchemist was over the production and it had immediately followed the release of his brother’s highly anticipated project, so it was only right that things were eventually bound to kick off for Conway the Machine, after releasing La Maquina earlier in April and having one of the best runs in the current game. Piano Love is everything the title suggests, The Alchemist and Conway both sharing their love for the piano. The track was the anchor for the album’s promotion and gave fans a glimpse of what they were about to witness just over four months later.

John Woo Flick featuring Benny the Butcher and Westside Gunn was the second single of the album, and was released a couple of weeks before the 25th of February, alongside came with it the music video over on YouTube, and was well received by Griselda fans, a grimy, intimidating, threatening song is everything you can ask for.

But God Don’t Make Mistakes begins with the track called Lock Load, and is ominous, with a drill feel about this track, Beanie Sigel somehow turns the song darker than it was, which is not an easy thing to do when hopping on a track with one of the grittiest and illest MC in the game right now. Such a perfect set up for the rest of the debut Shady Records Album for La Maquina.

Conway united with strong allies ahead of the release; Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn are only a few names out of the 12-track studio album produced by Daringer, The Alchemist, Hit-Boy and more.

Tear Gas is the name of the title featuring Rick Ross and Lil Wayne, two of the biggest in the game with a longevity without measure, Tear Gas is a beautifully structured song with Conway’s various cadences. Lil Wayne does what he does best and provides the people with Quotables, Rick Ross adds his own touch to the track over this astonishing sample and the result is gracious.

It is worth noting that 7xvethegenius continues her path to success, after collaborating with Che Noir and Armani Caesar at the start of the year, she links up with Conway and Jae Skeese over the production by Daringer on Drumwork, whose talent does not need any explanation.

The song is simply breath-taking, the rapper from Buffalo 7xvethegenius has an incredible verse and Conway the Machine is still wowing and captivating his audience, as he has done for the entirety of his career. To still be able to capture parts of his previous life and turn them into lyrics for people to hear for the first time is baffling. Drumwork- consisting of drums of course- is addicting, scary, aspirational and artistic all at the same time, although there are more words to describe the four minute-track.

As mentioned above, Hit-Boy is on production over Wild Chapters featuring both T.I and Novel, accompanying Conway, who jumps straight into the song before slowing it down and letting Novel sing, catching me off guard a little.

It’s always nice to hear T.I back in the game, who influenced trap music, and Novel steals the show with one of the few songs on God Don’t Make Mistakes that sound this melodic.

Guilty, Piano Love and So Much More are the only three songs where Conway the Machine hasn’t got anyone alongside him to vary things, but let this be known, even if the whole project featured somebody else, this wouldn’t be a problem for the machine.

Guilty is one the highlights of the album, having been shot a few years back and almost facing death, Conway the Machine would like to remind people that this shit is no joke, and that he’s still better than everyone undermining his place in the game right now. Guilty is the story of a rapper who made it and reiterates that he’s more dangerous than he has ever been.

Stressed with Wallo267 is on another level, the storytelling of how stressful life is for Conway is immaculate and you can feel the pain through his voice and the despair, “Does anybody care that I’m stressed? Most of my homies died and the rest are doing time and does anybody care that I’m stressed? Everybody got their handout asking for shit, but does anybody care that I’m stressed? – people don’t know what I’m going through- Wallace Peeple, AKA Wallo267 is someone I have followed for a while now, with his cousin Gillie too, together they host Million$ Worth of Game where joy, anger, learning and reflecting all meet at a crossroad as they discuss life.

So Much More is a track Conway hopped on solo, and when he heard it, he knew he had to jump on the occasion, as he describes it so well. The instrumental is out of this world, and it only gets me thinking about how sensational his catalogue is getting.

Chanel Pearls features Jill Scott and could be a track from More Life by Drake, Scott’s vocals give Conway the Machine the chance to express himself differently, as opposed to most of the production on the project where other vocals are within a different range, which showcases Conway the Machine’s ability to ultimately do what he wants, and he does it ever so well.

Babas is the second to last track on God Don’t Make Mistakes featuring Keisha Plum and is yet again, on a whole different universe, Keisha Plum’s poetry is just astonishing and gives me chills, the production by Beat Butcha and Daringer is probably the scariest I have ever heard in my life, and Conway the Machine does not back down either, shit sounds like something you would hear meeting Hades in hell.

God Don’t Make Mistakes featuring Annette Price is the ultimate track of the album and is only The Alchemist’s second production of it, which goes to show how incredible the project is and how well Daringer and Beat Butcha have done. 

I simply have no words for this last song, powerful and intricate are the two words that come to my mind as I keep hearing The Alchemist’s flawless production over and over in my head, on a loop. The song is the culmination of Conway’s entire career, as I thought he had outdone himself on Guilty and Stressed, he comes back and does even better on God Don’t Make Mistakes, titled after the album’s name. “Would Alchemist ever find us? Would DJ Clark Kent co-sign us? Would Paul and Eminem have signed us? I mean, we went from whipping' shit on the stove to pictures with HOV' is probably the most powerful thing I have ever heard in hip-hop and I too, wonder what it would have been like for the Buffalo-born rapper.

God Don’t Make Mistakes is an incredible body of work.