Tag: Black Noi$e

ZelooperZ – “Pin Breakers” review

This is the 2nd extended play from Detroit, Michigan emcee ZelooperZ. A member of the Bruiser Brigade collective & 1/2 of ZGTO, he has spent the last 15 years building up a solo catalog comprised of a dozen LPs along with another EP & a couple mixtapes. My personal favorites of which being the Black Noi$e-produced Dyn-o-mite & more recently, ZelooperZ’ most recent full-length Dalí Ain’t Dead, digging up all 11 of Pin Breakers’ tracks 9 months later & putting it up exclusively on his Bandcamp.

“Listen” starts us off with a 90 second intro talking about never dropping the ball similarly to Blake Griffin over some sampling in the background whereas “Pain T Wayne” hops over a psychedelic trap beat saying that he reminds himself of T-Pain & shit not changing. “Beautician” goes for a jazzier boom bap vibe instrumentally talking about working in any weather while “Mason’s Dispatch” feels like a minute & a half freestyle.

My least favorite track here might be “The Music” mostly because it sounds underdeveloped & so short where having it on here seems rather pointless while “Nostradamus” featuring Danny Brown makes up for it by giving us a boom bap banger that would’ve fit perfectly on Dyn-o-mite. “My Momma” continues the 2nd half of the EP showing gratitude towards his mother while “River Rogue” continues to chop up more samples talking about having this shit laced.

“Baby Bruisin’” nears closer towards the conclusion of Pin Breakers blending some strings & hi-hats discussing him spending a long time not having shit while “Sailing Seas” further elaborates on that recalling the days where he used to eat a bunch of Spam & sleep in the studio over a piano instrumental. The outro “Aha Aha” soulfully concludes the EP looking back at when he couldn’t walk around the hood because of a bounty placed on his stepfather’s head.

Considering that Pin Breakers was recorded in 2019 around the same time as Dyn-o-mite, it wouldn’t surprise me of these collection of previously unreleased tracks were meant to be on that album since ZelooperZ’ primarily abstract lyrics combined with Black Noi$e’s experimentally jazzy production were all key factors in making Dyn-o-mite so special to me even if there are some occasionally incomplete ideas floating around here & there.

Score: 4/5

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Valee – “Partridge” review

Chicago, Illinois rapper Valee now joining forces with Detroit, Michigan producer Black Noi$e for his 5th EP. Making his name known by releasing 3 mixtapes & a couple EPs from the span of 2015-2018, it wasn’t until one of my top 10 producers of all-time Ye formerly known as Kanye West signed him to a joint deal with G.O.O.D. Music & Def Jam Recordings. The next 2 EPs G.O.O.D. Job, You Found Me & Runnin’ Rich helped spread plugg music to a mainstream audience despite both receiving mixed reception to the point where he would go his own way from Thersday onward. I should also mention that Valee additionally has 2 EPs with AYOCHILLMAN as the duo The TrAppiEst as well as 2 more with ChaseTheMoney as the duo VTM & 2 with Stan Lane as the duo Vlane. Anyway, his full-length debut Virtuoso produced by Harry Fraud from last summer won me over on him & I was certain of Partridge being as enjoyable.

“Partridge” is a sample-heavy trap opener with Valee boasting about putting a bitch in Chanel & skating harder than Molly Bloom whereas “Clutch” works in this crazy beat switch near the 2 minute mark so the dude can lay out his lifestyle on wax. “DiGiMon” takes the eerie boom bap route instrumentally talking about fucking on the money while “Ruff” pushes near the end of the EP taking a bit of a mellow trap turn flying out to Berlin & playing with the idea of pulling up in something new. “Sonnet” finishes up Partridge cloudily showing off his baby rockin’ A Bathing Ape with no monkey in the middle.

Originally, I had Runnin’ Rich as my favorite Valee EP since it took everything from G.O.O.D. Job, You Found Me & improved on it. 5 years later, he outdoes himself here much like he did with Harry Fraud on Virtuoso last summer. Black Noi$e’s production is more experimental than Harry’s was on that debut LP & the performances from Valee himself are an improvement over some of the other material he’s given us in the last 10 months since.

Score: 4/5

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