Westside Gunn Announces Heelmatic, New Album Out November 13

Westside Gunn will release his new album Heelmatic on November 13 via Griselda Records/Mass Appeal. The Buffalo rapper announced the record alongside the YouTube arrival of lead single 'Zilla', a video shot on location in Egypt.

The clip technically premiered on Instagram back in August. It has now reached YouTube, which is why it matters this week. In it, Gunn rides a camel through Cairo, then raps in front of the Great Pyramid. The lyrical fare runs from Oakleys to Glocks to what he calls 'choppin' bricks karate type.' The pyramid, one assumes, needed no set dressing.

What did Gunn promise the album would sound like?

Gunn teased Heelmatic this summer in a post that doubles as a genre manifesto. 'ALBUM OTW AND ITS ALL GRIMEY, DUSTY, SOULFUL, JAZZ INSPIRED mixed with FLYEST SHIT U EVER HEARD IN YA LIFE,' he wrote. That's the Griselda house style (the Buffalo label he co-founded, known for dusty soul samples and hardcore street rap) stated at full volume.

The title continues a running gimmick. Most of the 16 track titles pun on heels, wrestling and beyond:

• 'Grant Heel'
• 'Blowdysseus'
• 'Zilla'
• 'Koke Slam'
• 'Sock A Knee'
• 'Don Pistola'
• 'Martin 4sese'
• 'Tommy Heelfiger'
• 'Hurt + Heel'
• 'Price Choppers'
• 'Egyptian Cadillac'
• 'Bottom Bunk Legends'
• 'Bavettes'
• 'Giant Leather'
• 'The Bastard Pac'
• 'Upstate Farm'

The wrestling fixation is no accident. Gunn is a lifelong wrestling fanatic, and the album title plays on 'heel', the industry term for a villain character.

Heelmatic follows a busy 2025 for Gunn. His last full-length releases were a trio of mixtapes: 12, Heels Have Eyes 2 and Heels Have Eyes 3. The new album lands as his first proper full-length statement since that run.

Where is he touring?

Shortly after release, Gunn heads overseas for the 'Heel the World Tour 2: Still Healing' trek across the UK and Europe. The itinerary runs from late January into late February:

• 01-30 Brussels, Belgium – La Madeleine
• 02-02 Bristol, UK – O2 Academy Bristol
• 02-03 Birmingham, UK – O2 Institute Birmingham
• 02-05 Glasgow, UK – SWG3
• 02-08 Dublin, Ireland – Vicar St.
• 02-09 Zurich, Switzerland – X-TRA
• 02-10 Munich, Germany – Backstage München
• 02-11 Stuttgart, Germany – LKA Longhorn
• 02-14 Frankfurt, Germany – Batschkapp
• 02-15 Leipzig, Germany – Felsenkeller
• 02-16 Hamburg, Germany – Große Freiheit 36
• 02-18 Warsaw, Poland – Klub Progresja
• 02-19 Stockholm, Sweden – Fryshuset
• 02-21 Copenhagen, Denmark – VEGA

Fourteen dates, eight countries, one heel turn. The album artwork accompanies the announcement.

Fans won't wait long to test the 'grimey, dusty, soulful' claim against the product. November 13 settles it.