Denzel Curry, ZUU, Album Review


Denzel Curry
ZUU
Album Review


Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Music

 Denzel Curry, has been quite the prominent name in hip-hop in recent years. Following the critically acclaimed effort from the Florida rapper Ta13oo, released last year. It was both surprising and exciting to see that we'd be getting another album the following year.

 Admittedly Ta13oo was one of the many albums of 2018 that I just never really got round to listening to properly (or at least not enough for me to write a well thought out review). However, I definitely felt that his newest release ZUU was at least worth a listen, especially after his awesome cover of Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade" he did a few months back.

 Naturally, this album is stylistically to the previously mentioned cover. But what surprised me is how well it engaged with me stylistically in comparison to Ta13oo.

 I understand that Ta13oo was created with what seemed like a three-phase narrative within, and I can appreciate it as an artistic piece. However, there's no denying just how much of a gravitational pull the bangers on this album can have.

 The music on ZUU has an incredible sense of both grittiness and bling, and fuses these two aesthetics together just as perfectly as many rap artists did back in the 90s.

 This album also really shines with its level of attitude and in-your-face-ness. Its certainly designed to be more of an anthem-filled fix than the artsy-ness of Ta13oo

 The album has a fair few interludes added in, and for the most part they do a pretty good job of immersing the listener into the gangly aesthetic of this record. However, I still don't fell like there needed to be as many as there was.

 As for the full tracks, the majority of them really hit the nail on the head when it comes to giving the album a highly "hood" vibe. Songs like "RICKY", "BIRDZ", "SHAKE 88" and "P.A.T" are very good examples of this. However, there are also many tracks with a more chilled aesthetic that are incredibly enjoyable, and in a few cases push forward the 90's vibe a bit more. Most notably, "WISH" feat. Kiddo Marv feels like a fully-fledged 90's daydream.

 The spot for favourite song is still undecided. But if I had to choose at this very moment in time, I would most likely pick the previously mentioned "BIRDZ" as not only is the production behind this song completely bad-ass, the verse from Rick Ross, who features on this track, really blends in well with the whole thing.

 In conclusion, I think this album is only going to carry on growing on me. It excels in its aesthetic purpose and have some total bops to boot. It feels like something that would fit perfectly into a GTA soundtrack, and it has certainly been enough for me to want to look out for future Denzel Curry projects.


Thank you for reading.

 Booth Boy

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