Benny the Butcher is part of Buffalo's Griselda crew and behind Black Soprano Family, the two primary outlets for his tense narratives about street life. Like frequent collaborators
Westside Gunn and
Conway, he's inspired most by hardcore mid-'90s hip-hop from his home state, including
Wu-Tang Clan and
Mobb Deep. A late bloomer by his genre's standard, he hit his stride in his thirties with releases such as Tana Talk 3 (2018), The Plugs I Met (2019), and the critically acclaimed
Burden of Proof (2020), followed by
The Plugs I Met 2 (2021). A collaboration with
J. Cole preceded 2022's Tana Talk 4.
Jeremie Pennick knew by the age of ten that he wanted to be involved with music. He issued material in the late 2000s as B.E.N.N.Y., including the full-length projects The Mayor's Back and Chains Bond. By then, he had initiated a long-term alliance with
Westside Gunn and
Conway as the Forerunners, a group that also included his brother, Machine Gun Black. The bond tightened in the mid-2010s as
Benny helped build
Westside's Griselda Records, releasing material such as 2016's
My First Brick and the following year's Green Lantern collaboration
Butcher on Steroids, all while making regular contributions to other releases in the label's catalog.
Tana Talk 3, a joint Griselda/Black Soprano Family recording produced by
Alchemist and Griselda associate Daringer, brought
Benny a new level of acclaim that stimulated continued growth throughout 2019. That year,
Benny appeared with
Westside and
Conway on
DJ Premier's "Headlines," released the Billboard-charting The Plugs I Met -- featuring
Black Thought,
Jadakiss, and
Pusha T -- and signed a management deal with
Roc Nation.
Benny teamed up with producer
Hit Boy for 2020's
Burden of Proof, which featured guest spots from
Lil Wayne,
Big Sean,
Rick Ross,
Freddie Gibbs, and more. The following year, he paired with beatmaker
Harry Fraud for his sequel EP
The Plugs I Met 2. He also released the
38 Spesh collaboration Trust the Sopranos and the solo EP Pyrex Picasso. "Johnny P's Caddy," a collaboration with
J. Cole, appeared in 2022, in advance of
Benny's full-length Tana Talk 4. ~ Andy Kellman