Two Buffalo rappers, one track, and a credit line that reads Armani Caesar Publishing and Griselda Records. No producer is listed, so none is named here. Armani Caesar Joclynn Clyburn, born in Buffalo in 1989 has the more unusual route of the two. She was rapping by twelve, recording over downloaded instrumentals, and got her start at sixteen at Buff City Studios, the room run by the late DJ Shay. Shay gave her her stage name and was, at the same studio, developing Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher. She was in a group with them before any of them were who they became. A decade later, in 2020, she became the first woman signed to Griselda, and The Liz landed with a 7.2 from Pitchfork. The Liz 2 followed in 2022. Benny the Butcher needs less introduction: Jeremie Pennick, Buffalo, half of the Griselda core and, by most accounts, its sharpest writer. This isn't their first record together. "Simply Done," from The Liz, was produced by DJ Premier and remains one of the label's cleanest singles. Six years on, the pairing is no longer a novelty it's two people from the same studio working again because it works. The title puts a cosmetics retailer next to a Spanish island, which reads like a joke about luxury and travel rather than a statement about either. What the song sounds like is not something this can assess yet; it arrived today and isn't available to hear. What can be said is that Armani has spent six years building a catalogue that does not depend on Griselda's co-sign Paula Deen with Westside Gunn, Diana with Kodak Black, Shmoke with A$AP Ferg, and The Liz Symphony earlier this year and a Benny feature in 2026 lands differently than one would have in 2020.
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