I Died For This!? is the third studio album by American rapper Grip. It was released on August 27, 2021 by Stray Society and Shady Records. The album features guest appearances from Eminem, Royce da 5'9", Kenny Mason, Tate228, Wara, Wiley from Atlanta, Ahyes, Dead Cassettes, Kay Nellz and Big Rube.
The album serves as Grip's debut release under Shady Records after being signed on by Eminem in July 2021. The meaning behind the album is a retelling of Grip's career as an MC rapper and his personal life. The name also implies two things; he died for his work to take off and make an impact, or he died and all his hard work was for nothing, a metaphor for GRIP's career.
History[]
Since 2017, Grip has been making music whilst juggling his job as a Uber driver. Although his 2017 album Porch, and 2019 album Snubnose were met with critical success, they unfortunately did not improve his music career to where he can attend to it full time. In 2020, R&B star Brent Faiyaz announced his "Fuck The World" tour, with Grip serving as an opening act for all of the 28 dates. However, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic then taking place, the tour was postponed to August 2020. On top of this, offers with major record labels were also dropped.
I didn’t want to cast that negative energy off on anybody else, I just needed time to collect my thoughts and figure out my next move."
In April 2020, Grip released his debut extended play Halo, which was akin to J. Cole's Yourz Truly EP in the sense that is was not counted as a follow-up project to Snubnose. The COVID-19 Pandemic proved to be a mental and financial struggle for Grip as he had very little income going in. Then, during July 2021, rapper Eminem became familiar with Grip via his album Snubnose and was immediately intrigued by Grip's focus on making a conceptual project.
"Obviously we want anyone who signs with Shady to succeed. But first and foremost we’ve always focused on the raw talent and ability of the artist as an MC. We’ve always been pretty clear on that being the main thing we look for: high level fundamental skills and mechanics are definitely the priority." said Eminem.
This monumental event helped Grip with the production of his third studio album, as Grip was then signed on to Shady Records in July of 2021. The album was announced and it's release date revealed on Grip's social media accounts during July-August 2021.
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Enter Stage Right" | 1:07 | |
| 2. | "And the Eulogy Read!?" (featuring Wiley from Atlanta) | 3:40 | |
| 3. | "Hands Up!" | 3:13 | |
| 4. | "IDFT?" | 2:35 | |
| 5. | "Momma Told Me!" | 3:42 | |
| 6. | "Placebo" (featuring Royce da 5'9") | 4:05 | |
| 7. | "Gutter!" (featuring Wara) | 2:54 | |
| 8. | "JDDTTINT?" (featuring Dead Cassettes) | 3:21 | |
| 9. | "A Soldier's Story?" | 3:04 | |
| 10. | "Walkthrough!" (featuring Eminem) | 3:28 | |
| 11. | "The Lox!" (featuring Tate228) | 4:15 | |
| 12. | "Enem3?" (featuring Big Rube) | 3:37 | |
| 13. | "ConMan?" (featuring Ahyes) | 3:43 | |
| 14. | "Glenwood Freestyle!" | 2:50 | |
| 15. | "At What Cost?" | 3:08 | |
| 16. | "Patterns?" | 4:24 | |
| 17. | "Pennies... Exit Stage Left!" (featuring Kay Nellz and Kenny Mason) | 4:26 |