Black Soprano Family

Black Soprano Family emerged as a Griselda splinter unit, the Buffalo-rooted crew celebrated for raw, street-focused hip-hop rooted in classic East Coast boom bap. Benny the Butcher formed the collective to elevate lesser-known local associates, finalizing a distribution agreement for his identically named imprint during 2020. The label’s early releases include The Respected Sopranos (2020) and Long Live DJ Shay (2022).

By the time Benny secured an eOne partnership that year, he had already employed the Black Soprano Family name for multiple seasons; that same deal marked the official rollout of the crew via The Respected Sopranos, a mixtape hosted jointly by Benny and DJ Drama that spotlighted core voices Rick Hyde, LoveBoat Luciano, Jonesy, and Heem B$F. The BSF acronym later surfaced on the 2021 soundtrack to Benny’s film Conflicted.

The crew’s genuine successor to The Respected Sopranos materialized in 2022 as Long Live DJ Shay, a project that paid tribute to the late Buffalo figure revered as producer, manager, and mentor within the city’s rap community. Shay had first recorded during the early ’90s as part of Brother/Hood Nation and contributed to countless Griselda sessions. The album drew contributions from Griselda founders Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine as well as Joe Budden, Boldy James, and DJ Premier. Preemo supplied the beat for “Times Is Rough,” which opens with a lighthearted back-and-forth between the two veterans.