Benny the Butcher

Episode notes

(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

We’re concluding Rap Month with Benny the Butcher. Benny is an acclaimed MC from Buffalo, New York. Alongside Conway the Machine and Westside Gunn, he’s a member of the hip-hop collective Griselda.

Benny works hard. He’s an incredibly prolific rapper. He tours a ton. He’s not even forty yet and he’s got dozens of LPs, mixtapes and other releases to his name. In fact, he hasn’t gone a year without releasing something since 2009.

It’s even more extraordinary when you consider his health. Benny suffers from severe asthma. He’s been to the emergency room more times than he can count. Canceled shows, interviews.

It’s hard to imagine being an MC with asthma. It’s especially hard to be an MC with a flow as complex and fierce as Benny the Butcher’s.

Benny the Butcher joins Bullseye to talk about his upbringings in Buffalo, New York and how he got into rapping. Plus he breaks down his track “10 More Commandments” – a response to a classic Biggie Smalls song.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

Benny the Butcher

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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