Album Review: ZUU - Denzel Curry

Fresh off of the critically acclaimed album TA13OO which released in 2018, rapper Denzel Curry is back and making his presence known with his newest project ZUU. I had forgotten that this album was releasing today, May 31st, so when Spotify alerted me that there was new music with Curry’s name on it, I was pleasantly surprised and knew that I was in for a treat. I was, fortunately, correct in this assumption. The initial impression that I had seems to be similar to that of many other fans on sites such as Reddit and Twitter, which is one of abundant praise and admiration. Denzel certainly ended the evening with a better night than Stephen did yesterday (Curry… get it? Raptors in 7.)

While not as jarringly creative and relevant as TA13OO was, Curry still delivers a project with replay-ability and stellar production here. The album cover channels late 90’s/early 00’s rap era style, and that is reflected throughout the track listing appropriately. Even by Denzel Curry’s pre-established standard of releasing high quality bangers, ZUU goes above and beyond in this regard. A modern spin on traditional southern rap instrumentals is surprisingly refreshing and sets Curry above his current competition in the scene. The intermittent skits are appropriate and further the playful tone Curry sets with his catchy flows and lyricism, which however can unfortunately be childishly simplistic at times.

It will quickly become clear as I review music on this blog that one of the biggest gripes I have with music, particularly rap, is a lack of complexity. I appreciate surface-level bars to a certain degree, but I especially enjoy lines with double or triple entendres that require multiple listens to fully grasp. This album lacks that complexity, but that isn’t to fault Curry too harshly. ZUU isn’t an instant classic, but its enjoyable production, features, and flows will keep its highlights (“ZUU”, “BIRDZ Feat. Rick Ross”, “P.A.T Feat. PlayThatBoiZay”) in the summer playlists for 2019.

SCORE: 7/10

My Top 3 Albums From 2019 So Far + An Explanation of My Rating System

I figured that posting something directly after my introductory post explaining how ambitious I am planning to be with this blog made a fair amount of sense and insures that, at the very least, this site will have at least ONE substantive post -- this one -- discussing my 3 favorite albums from 2019 so far and explaining/defending why I am so harsh when it comes to a grading scale and rating system. Let's dive in.

*disclaimer, these brief analyses of the selected albums will not be as in-depth as my later album reviews which will be standalone posts.*

Let's start with my favorite album from 2019 so far which is Tyler, The Creator's IGOR. This experimental project further demonstrates Tyler's willingness to evolve past an immature sound in Wolf and Cherry Bomb, into a more introspective Flower Boy, and then eventually into a conceptual and rough-around-the-edges project like IGOR. Thematically sound and sonically hypnotizing, Tyler's break-up album fully familiarizes the audience with the IGOR character while disorienting them with never-before-heard instrumental combinations and synth perfection. Many of the songs on this project are catchy to the point of endless repetition, and the transitions in-between them encourage keeping the album on loop, which I have done happily since it's release. Slight hiccups throughout keep me from giving this project a perfect score, but it is fairly close to the coveted and very rare 10/10 rating from me. SCORE = 9/10

Secondly is James Blake's lovely project Assume Form. This one caught me by surprise. Blake was on my radar mainly from collaborations with rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott as well as a handful of selections from his previous album The Colour In Anything, but until the release of Assume Form I hadn't fully listened to one of the musicians projects from beginning to end, which is how I typically consume projects. Assume Form changed that, as its beautiful and sometimes haunting sounds found themselves trapped in the recesses of my mind and the insides of my headphones. Constantly. What adds to this simply revealing and beautiful album is the fact that I was able to see James Blake open his Assume Form tour at The Tabernacle here in Atlanta with my wonderful girlfriend. James' clear humbleness and gratefulness toward the crowd accompanied with his incredible singing ability lead to a fantastic show that completely sold me on a fantastic album. SCORE = 8/10

Finally is an album that completely blindsided me, which is Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? I was familiar with Eilish's viral presence online mainly because of her remarkable success at such a young age of 17. An artist releasing their debut album simply should not have such a distinct and established sound as that of Billie Eilish. Some of the themes present on this project, especially in the album's closing tracks, demonstrate a very weathered and mature performer whose age shouldn't be used as a point of criticism. Radio friendly songs such as "bury a friend" and "bad guy" are fun listens, but the heavier listens like "listen before i go" and "i love you" keep me coming back to this project. Its lack of thematic cohesiveness is expected from a debut album and is intentional from what I've seen from Eilish's interviews, but it unfortunately takes away from the start to finish replay-ability for me. Again, a great album that completely blindsided me and greatly surpassed my expectations. SCORE = 8/10

So there are my top albums so far from 2019, none of which have a perfect 10/10 score. Fret not -- that is expected with me. I only have a handful of albums that I have given a perfect score to. Some find my rating scale a bit harsh, which is a fair critique. I describe it as fair, though. Here it is, as follows:

- 10: Perfection with nothing in need of change.

- 9: Extraordinarily amazing.

- 8: Great.

- 7: Good.

- 6: Above average.

- 5: Average.

- 4: Below average.

- 3: Bad.

- 2. Terrible.

- 1. Extraordinarily awful.

- 0: No redeeming qualities, as bad as possible.

We'll see if 2019 brings a perfect 10/10 for me. Stay tuned as I continue to share in-depth album and track reviews here on this blog.