1 WEEK LATER: DENZEL CURRY’S ‘ZUU’ ALBUM REVIEW

ZUU is Denzel Curry’s fourth studio album, following up from his critically acclaimed album TABOO (or TA1300) studio album from last year (2018). TABOO received lots of praise from the hip hop world through listeners and reviewers, so the bar was already set for ZUU. Could ZUU build on from TABOO? Let’s talk about it.

Let’s first look at the track list and size. The album is 12 songs long, however 3 of the ‘songs’ are skits or interludes, which leaves 9 actual tracks. This is a fair size for an album, however it is a shorter album than TABOO, which consisted of 13 actual tracks. So this time around there is a bit less Denzel Curry to consume.

One of the first things I noticed this time around with ZUU, is that there was a reoccurring theme of mentioning God, Jesus, or at least a ‘higher presence’ per se. There’s lots of mentions or references to it during the whole album, some include:

“And fear no man but the man above your head”

“Pray before you go to bed,” every day my mama said” – on RICKY

“Eye of Jehovah

Come take a look at my city and its culture” – on BIRDZ

“Jesus, please deliver us from evil

Please pray over all my people” – on SPEEDBOAT

This is one thing that I noticed about how ZUU was different to TABOO, or at least something that stood out to me that felt like it differed from TABOO.

Some highlights of ZUU I think are the leading single ZUU, RICKY, WISH, SPEEDBOAT and CAROLMART. The first half of the album is very solid, and at this time I do think the first half of the album is better than the second half. Maybe this could change after only a week of listening but at this moment the first half has a big lead on the second half.

I’m unsure of how I feel about the song SHAKE 88 as it seems it doesn’t really fit the running theme of ZUU. Therefore, SHAKE 88 personally felt a bit out of place and personally didn’t fit with this album for me.

After listening to this album throughout this week, I’ve decided to give it a rating of 8/10. I really do think there is a nice selection of songs that build on the discography of Denzel Curry from his previous album TABOO. I feel like a stronger second half to the album could have brought ZUU up to a 9 or a 10. To be fair to the second half though, it does contain the two interludes/skits which cuts the second half down to 4 actual songs instead of the 6 actual songs in the first half. Please give Denzel Curry’s ZUU a listen, check it out below. Till next time!

-Adin

ADIN’S LOOK BACK: Is Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ A Classic Album?

It’s been over two and half years since the release of Frank Ocean’s highly acclaimed album, Blonde, and the album has been given time to settle into our discographies, but where does it rank up today? Let’s take a look at what made Blonde what a potential classic album.

Lets first look at the length of the album. The album is 15 songs long, excluding two interludes, one with Frank’s mother on “Be Yourself”, and the skit “Facebook Story”. Therefore, this album gives us enough songs to get lost in, but not enough to make the album feel repetitive or too long. There also doesn’t feel like there’s any filler songs in the album, or songs that don’t have the same quality as any of the other songs on the album.

Now onto the songs themselves. One thing that struck me over the 2 and a half years of listening is that my favourite song on the album has changed all through out the years. First it was “Solo”, then it became “Nights”, then with more relistening of the album it became “Godspeed”, and even “White Ferrari” . Even now I’m undecided of what my true favourite song is, as all the songs strike a different chord with me. I think that’s the sign of a classic album, when you can’t even decide on your favourite song. Also if I was to discuss my feelings on each individual song on Blonde, this would have to be an hour long read.

Even today I still seem to learn more and more about this album. Only a couple months ago I had found out that the beat switch in the song “Nights” is exactly at the half way point of the hour long album. When I initially heard that, it blew my mind. I had always wondered why the guitar solo on “Nights” felt so long or didn’t seem to follow a certain beat tempo. Small details such as that really do make you wonder, what else is there about Blonde that we still haven’t discovered after more than 2 and a half years? That also may be another sign of a classic album.

Since the release in August of 2016, I still regularly listen to this album, almost, if not, daily. All the songs were so well made to last, and it shows as the songs still continue to shine to this day. It’s honestly surprised me that none of the songs have actually lost any glimmer for me personally. I also think that is another factor of a classic album. Sometimes other albums may lose their “replayness” per se, whereas “Blonde” has continued to sound amazing both musically and lyrically to this day.

Two and half years may be a short time to claim an album as a classic, however I do think that Blonde is definitely projecting into becoming a classic album if the songs continue to keep their ability to be replayed, and if Blonde has already lasted more than two and a half years, I have no doubt that it will reach that classic album feat.

For anyone who has not listened to Blonde yet, please give it a listen, from start to finish, and if you have, maybe leave a comment on what you think about Blonde as a whole, and if you think it will become a classic album

Thanks for reading.

-Adin

1 WEEK LATER: TYLER THE CREATOR’S IGOR ALBUM REVIEW

It has been 1 week since Tyler the Creator’s 5th studio album debuted on the 17th May 2019, and it’s time to give the album a review since I’ve had the time to listen to it multiple times.

IGOR is a love themed album which covers the different emotions and stages of feelings Tyler the Creator goes through with his love interest as they break up and, by the end of the album, see if they can still be friends after everything they’ve been through together.

The album is very well polished, with the length not being too short or too long (10 tracks excluding the intro and a talking interlude) This makes the album a good length for a full listen from start to finish, just as Tyler wanted and expressed in a twitter post prior to the album’s release, shown below.

Tyler the Creator’s post on how he wanted fans to listen to IGOR, taken from his Twitter.

Some songs that really stood out to me in IGOR include EARFQUAKE (with a fantastic implementation of Playboi Carti), I THINK, WHAT’S GOOD, GONE GONE / THANK YOU, and ARE WE STILL FRIENDS? I’m still trying to warm up to a fan favourite NEW MAGIC WAND.

I think the song GONE GONE / THANK YOU shows how far Tyler The Creator has come from his cockroach eating ways in his 2011 music video of Yonkers. Tyler has really matured both lyrically and musically, and it’s a great thing to hear, as you can hear the effort put into IGOR as a whole. I really wasn’t sure what to expect with IGOR, and wasn’t sure if Tyler The Creator could build on and improve from his previous album Flower Boy, but he’s done it.

One complaint I did have was on the track I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE, with the repeating of “’Cause I don’t love you anymore” every 6 seconds in some sections of the track, especially the intensity of some of the ways it’s said, it felt a bit obnoxious and out of place throughout the calm undertone of the song as a whole.

In the end I’ve decided to give this album a 8.5/10. IGOR is a solid album and builds on from his previous highly rated album Flower Boy, in the sense of how both are musically complicated, well structured, and both told their own stories respectively.

In the future songs such as I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE and NEW MAGIC WAND may grow on me more.