Denzel Curry – “TA13OO” review

Denzel Curry is a 23 year old MC from Carol City, Florida who came up as a member of SpaceGhostPurrp’s Raider Klan collective. I first caught wind of him in 2013 with his solid debut album Nostalgic 64, which he would follow up in 2016 with the modern day trap classic Imperial. He’s been laying quite low since then, dropping a EP last year called 13 & doing only a couple features. But now, he’s back on the scene with his 3rd full-length album.

Things start off with the titular track, which Denzel melodically uses as a metaphor for a woman who was molested at a young age over a psychedelic rock influenced instrumental. The next song “13LACK 13ALLOONZ” with GoldLink sees the 2 talking about rising above negativity over a moody boom bap beat while the track “CAZH MAN1AC” triumphantly talks about his success over a nice synth funk instrumental. The track “ZUMO” brags about his wealth over an gritty Charlie Heat instrumental while the song “ZUPER ZA1YAN ZUPERMAN” gets braggadocious over a eerie beat. The track “ZWITCH IT UP” is about Denzel’s lifestyle changes with him cleverly changing his flow throughout over an gritty trap beat from !llmind & Ronny J while the song “MAD 1 GOT 1T” talks to his haters over a gloomy trap beat.

The track “Z1RENZ” with J.I.D. sees the 2 getting conscious over a mellow instrumental from DJ Dahi while the song “CLOUT CO13A1N” vents about suicide over a murky instrumental. The track “13LACKEZT 13ALLOON” vividly talks about wanting to connect mind to mind over a minimalist trap instrumental & an annoying hook while the song “PERCZ” is an jab at the misguided youth over an abrasive instrumental. The penultimate track “VENGEANCE” talks about just that over a bass-heavy instrumental & while I do enjoy the first 2 verses from Denzel & JPEGMAFIA respectively, ZillaKami’s doesn’t do anything for me. The closer “13.M.T. (13LACK METAL TERROR1ZT)” finishes it off perfectly by rapidly talking about killing this demon on his shoulder over an abrasive trap beat from Ronny J.

Overall, this is just as fantastic as his last album was. The concept is thought out almost perfectly, it’s well written, well executed & there are moments where Denzel gets more versatile from boom bap to neo-soul.

Score: 4.5/5