On May 31st 2019, Denzel Curry was back with 'ZUU', his first project since the highly-acclaimed 'Taboo' of 2018. It was only last year when I was introduced to Denzel as an artist and I was really impressed with what I heard. 'Taboo' was easily one of the best albums of 2018, so when I heard he had a new project coming out I was excited and intrigued.
3 Minute Read
To sum this album up, it is aggressive, high-energy and for an album of only 29 minutes, very satisfying. If you've heard 'Taboo', it is similar to the 3rd section, just slightly less dark. I always saw that third section of 'Taboo' as 'the darkest side of Taboo'. It seems like Denzel was in a similar creative space when he made 'Zuu', as 'Zuu' also contains those high-tempo beats and loud, obnoxious hooks.
The production is full of modern, progressive trap beats that I have come to associate with Denzel and his hard-hitting delivery. He laces the beats with slick flows that are mostly on point throughout the album. Catchy hooks are a theme throughout too, especially on songs like 'Ricky', 'Wish', 'Speedboat' and 'Carolmart'.
I know this album is sub-30 minutes, but still, 'Zuu' plays seamlessly from start to finish. The features are well placed and the transitions between songs are really smooth too.
One of the issues I remember having with 'Taboo' was the presence of some lackluster lyrics. Although Denzel does seem to have cut out some of that, they did creep in here and there. The main example that I can think of is on the song 'Automatic', the lyric goes "Ni**as throwin' shade on my light, that's a lamp, huh". Maybe I'm missing something, but I dunno I just thought it was a bit shit.
Lyrics like that did kind of bring down my overall enjoyment of the song, and 'Automatic' is one of the few songs that really doesn't do anything for me.
The only other song I didn't care for was 'P.A.T'. There's a fine line between being aggressive and hype and it spilling over into some really horrible sounds that were a little too offensive on the ear. 'P.A.T' was by far the most aggressive track on the album, but I feel it spilled over a little and became kind of unpleasant to listen to.
You definitely have to be in the mood to listen to this album. When I review albums I try listen to them twice-a-day for 7-10 days. There were some occasions when I was like fuck sake do I have to listen to it? That was mainly when I was tired or couldn't be arsed with anything high-energy. However, most of the times I couldn't wait to play this album again, and I hope that says all it needs to about what I think of 'Zuu'.
This album definitely serves it's purpose for what I think Denzel was intending, and that is, a hype, 30 minute, compelling project to play when you're on a mad one. Denzel Curry is proving to be one of the more exciting talents of today's rap game, and I am already anticipating what's coming next from him, be it another album, or a mixtape.
8/10
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