Westside Gunn Pitched Heelmatic to Nas, and Mass Appeal Said Yes

Westside Gunn's first official studio album since 2023's And Then Pray for Me is called Heelmatic, and the rapper says it started with a pitch to Nas. Gunn, the founder of Griselda Records, told Billboard that he wanted to join Mass Appeal's Legend Has It series.

That series has released seven albums from seven different legends. Each one is a record from an artist the series treats as a legend, and Gunn wanted in. He reached out to Nas to make the case. According to Gunn, he told Nas and Peter Bittenbender at Mass Appeal what he was trying to do and what it would take, and they agreed right away.

Gunn did not wait for the label to call him a legend. He said, "I'm a legend now," and that he wanted to make his Legend Has It entry now rather than at age 60. Mass Appeal's series was the direct spark for the album, he said.

The title is a joke with layers. Heelmatic plays on Nas' Illmatic, the 1994 debut that many fans know by heart. It also plays on "Heels," a brand tied to Gunn's independent pro wrestling promotion, 4th Rope. In wrestling, a heel is the bad guy, the character the crowd is meant to boo.

Wrestling is taking up more of Gunn's time. Billboard reports that he plans to focus more on 4th Rope as his rap career winds down. He also said Awesome God 3 will be his last solo album.

That makes Heelmatic a record with a short future on the calendar. Gunn is not stepping away from music altogether in these comments, but he is describing a shift in what he will spend his energy on. Fans who follow his releases will be watching for how the wrestling promotion and the remaining albums fit together.

Any first-week figure would come from the chart that counts it. What is clear is the chain of events: a letter-style pitch from one rapper to another, a label willing to say yes, and an album built around a wrestling joke and a 1994 record.