Full Super Saiyan: How ZEL Powered Up from Casual to God Mode
Five years ago, trap was as popular as it was reviled. Big names like Future and Migos were putting out music that was adored by millions, while at the same time attracting the ire of music critics, genre purists, and people who like comprehending lyrics. But then came Denzel Curry, and in the process of creating a dark, psychological concept album, reinvented the genre and twisted it to his own ends, creating what is now universally regarded as a masterpiece.
TA13OO
Denzel Curry
Southern Hip Hop / Trap | 2018
WARNING: the following review discusses topics of violence, abuse, and self-harm.
In 2015, comedian Bo Burnham derided the state of hip hop with the term “beat fetishism.” Basically, to summarize his definition, rap had slid down an increasingly steep slope from the late-80s-early-90s politically and socio-economically inspired poetry, to 2000s bling rap, to the rise of trap in the 2010s, where, as long as the beat was club-ready hot, you could just…say whatever over top in a half-hearted mumble and no one would care.
Only a few of the much, MUCH bigger names avoided this: Kanye, Kendrick, eugh…Drake. Though even they would dip their toes in the unintelligible water: Drake would release his take on slurry dancehall with “Hotline Bling,” later leading to the usually-coherent Rihanna to release a foggy ode to the genre herself with “Work.”… Hey, wait a minute…those came out the same year…and Drake was featured on “Work.” This is a facepalm moment, when you realize the industry movers themselves were collaborating to promote mumble-rap, or at the very least, prove they were hip enough to be in on it.
Denzel Curry, however, had already made an underground name for himself by 2013, releasing his first full-length studio album before graduating high school, and blowing up Soundcloud beyond recognition (the term “Soundcloud rap” was almost certainly created, at least in part, to describe Denzel’s style at the time). Nostalgic 64 was hailed by listeners and critics alike as a brilliant first attempt: furious barrages of speed-rap delivered over Rick Ross-dirty south-inspired tracks.
When Curry decided he needed to actually, you know, make money off his music, he released Imperial, which featured many of the same building blocks as N64, but churned them through a hazier, more professional production, and sported guest spots from Joey Bada$$ and the man himself, Rick Ross (who is from the same town in Florida as Curry, by the way). It was another success, but thinking he was in danger of going stale, Curry decided to do the unthinkable…merge.
Much of Curry’s lyrical content had always been pushing toward the more morose side of conscious hip hop, which contrasted—some say to its benefit, others to its detriment—with the southern-inspired beats he used. Trap, however, while often (and may I say, rightly) criticized for its lack of meaningful content in exchange for beat fetishism, boasted beats of a much darker form; bombastic yet stark, allowing the listener to insert their own meaning where the incomprehensible vocalist had placed none. If Curry could deliver bars with meaning though, that space would allow that meaning to echo back and forth until it was inescapable, deafening.
And so, in late 2017, Curry entered the studio, prepared to restrict himself to a slower cadence, to make sure no one would ever question what he was saying on this album, it was too personal, too important. Divided into three “acts,” Taboo (stylized TA13OO) would prove to be the descent in to the doomed human condition that the world needed.
Act I: Light
Taboo | TA13OO
“Act I: Light” is named not so much for it’s lyrical content as it is for the general vibe of the music. Opener/title track “Taboo” certainly is not light in its lyrics, explicitly discussing molestation and the horrific permanent scars it leaves. Curry (the character in this case) tries to bridge the emotional gap between himself and another as two damaged people. The “lightness,” if it can so be called, comes from the airy, jazzy, soul instrumentation, displaying a softer, more sensitive side of the rapper.
Black Balloons | 13LACK 13ALLOONZ
The instrumentation becomes even more upbeat immediately at the start of the second track: a plucky funk beat and major blues chords are positively soul-rejuvenating. But as the track title suggests, the content does not. Much of “Black Balloons” lyrics draw parallels between Curry’s various tragic experiences and the novel/movie, It. “Hot pink, Valentine red / Black balloons over my head / Let it float by me,” Curry sings in the chorus, and obvious allusion to the evil Pennywise’s use of balloons to signal his appearance. “Black Balloons,” also continues the story-within-a-story of the paper plane, which is first mentioned in “Taboo,” but is again mentioned here having been sealed to include the story of Curry and Taboo (the other character from “Taboo”) as being one and the same, before losing all pretense with the line “got my mind in a skillet, suicide not the mission / See the vibe very timid, I’m timid and very sad.”
Guest GoldLink has equally amazing lines: “You flashing all these lights, and you savin’ these kids’ lives / And they hate you ‘cause you’re right / Give me hell then, shit / Take your turn to fire and to pitchfork, bitch.” No matter what even the most prominent people might say, that rap has saved them through powerful messages or just positive vibes, only the worst gets extracted and used on the evening news and by culture warriors as examples of rap’s “corrupting influence.”
Cash Maniac | CAZH MAN1AC
“Cash Maniac’s” opening synth stabs create a fist-pumping combination of 80’s neon-soaked arena pop and 2000’s bling rap hooks. Following the “light” theme of this section of the album, we finally have lighter lyrical content as well: the song consists of “flex” lyrics showing the expensive items Denzel is able to purchase thanks to all the money he’s made. But while the track portrays an “I made it” feeling, the glitz and consumerism masks the reoccurring theme of numbing pain with money and material, “balance my chi so I could tame the savage / Getting so throwed 'til my thoughts are in fragments.”
Sumo | ZUMO
In a turn to pure trap, the beat for “Sumo” consists of deep, deep bass, synthetic chimes, and simple click percussion. It’s the perfect nearly-blank canvas for Curry to demonstrate his ability to diss and hype at the same time. Brilliant speed-run lines like “money on my mind just like a tumor / Spread my money out and then I call that bitch a rumor,” are contrasted in the chorus by hilarious references to owning people in Uno, and “you a nerd, no Chad Hugo.” Curry’s delivery across the track is rough and raw, like he’s just below a violent outburst, while Lil John-esque “WHAT!”s and “OKAY!”s ring out in the distant mix. It’s a pump-up jam like you’ve never heard before.
Act II: Gray
Super Saiyan Superman | ZUPER ZA1YAN ZUPERMAN
The first song of the album’s second act, “Gray,” “Super Saiyan Superman,” sees a continuation of Curry’s bombastic self-hype lyrics, whether it was his Super Saiyan themed hair colors (at the time), or the way he flows, Curry compares himself to that of the titualr Dragon Ball Z class of fighter. And, much like a super saiyan, Denzel portrays himself to be unstoppable and flashy in his rhyming and flow with lines like “legendary shit, you on your secondary shit / I’m on my YesJulz mixed with Katy Perry shit,” “I don’t need a feature, boy you either / Leave it to me, but you leave it to beaver,” and “look at the testament, better than ever been / Makin’ and estimate for all my pay.” The music also continues the style from “Sumo” that parrots standard trap instrumentation, though “Super Saiyan Superman” is noticeably more minor key and serious in its tone. It also is the first use of the hollow, 8-bit inspired synth that will become a motif throughout the rest of Taboo.
Switch It Up | ZW1TCH 1T UP
The dark trap instrumentation continues from “Super Saiyan” to “Switch It Up,” where Denzel talks about fake friends and people who have betrayed him in the past: “one of my homies, he pull the gun on me / He turnin' cold on me like meet the maker / So super phony as if he don't know me / I see what they told me about the hater” and, “you did wrong, not done for the right / New friends, new flies they swarm to the light.” He also focuses on the topics of paranoia and bipolar disorder, which are expressed through his use of an angrier voice and more deliberate flow.
Mad I Got It | MAD 1 GOT 1T
The Asian-inspired string sample, overblown shakers, and slower tempo make “Mad I Got It” considerably more moody and melodic than either of the previous “Gray” songs, and starts to express the change in tone and content of the album from “Light” to “Dark.” Across the track, Denzel raps about how his fame and success have led to jealousy among his friends, family, and others, ruining many of the relationships in his life: “expect the royal treatment / Talkin' slick like it's oil speakin' / Down to earth, 'til my soil weaken / Venomous words, watching the poison leakin'.” The first section of the song also includes maybe my favorite simile in rap history: “When you see me, better man up / Better make like a roller coaster, put your hands up.”
There’s a truly inspired beat switch that mirrors Curry’s focus from others to himself. The samples are replaced by a persistent, almost prodding tick as he dives into self-reflection with lines like, “I'm on some other shit, mind is twisted / I wear this mask every day—Stanley Ipkiss,” and “Try to read me, would it be, Stephen King / Big cheese only bring me Misery.”
Sirens | Z1RENS
In the most beautifully arranged track on Taboo, Denzel presents his views on the state of America and the inevitable struggles those views create with his faith. A soft, synthetic xylophone plays the main progression before sampled hums, chirps, and voices blend in to create a rich, full sound that makes for the perfect backdrop to such a melancholic song. Curry and an uncredited Billie Eilish sing the opening chorus gently, begging the listener to do what’s necessary for social justice in the face of America’s broken system, represented here by the titualr sirens: “Babe, when you hear the siren sounds / When the karma come back 'round, don’t let me down / Babe, there's a time to stand your ground / Even if one of them sounds, don't let me down.”
Going into detail on police brutality (“when I shoot the sheriff if he not demoted, then bang! / This for Trayvon and Tree, burn the bush and chronic, speakin' honestly / We livin' in colonies, CNN sit-comedies”), and the media (“state of mind, brain is minimized, put me on the news, only criticize / Revolution will never be televised for the enemy, they never empathize”), Curry cannot conflate the world he’s seeing with the one he’s been told will come to those who have faith (“not a saint, not a sin, tell me, what's my real religion? / Genocide, Genesis, they say it's a new beginnin' / I'm a sinner, you a sinner, I can see the devil grinnin'”).
The massively underrated J.I.D begins his feature with what seems like a conversation between frustrated partners, but it quickly becomes apparent he is talking to the country. “Oh say, can you see a hundred dead bodies in the street / By the dawn's early light, double Sprite and a R.I.P. tee,” he states, unsubtly, in the wind down to his guest spot, “So proudly, lights gleam, let the gun blaow in the night time / Of the slum house, little drum bump with the one thousand.”
The song is gorgeously produced, and throughout Curry makes brilliant double-entendres contrasting violent motifs and current events with religious messages. References to Zion, Genesis, and a masterful allusion to Revelation 19:15 (“And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron”) fully immerse the listener in his sense of urgency for change, and the suggestion that, maybe, a little Armageddon might do us good.
Clout Cobain | CLOUT CO13A1N
The centerpiece to Taboo’s promotion, “Clout Cobain” is directed at the destructive consequences that occur from chasing popularity. The hollow 8-bit comes back to kick off, before immediately blowing open to the pre-chorus: “I just wanna feel myself, you want me to kill myself / Man, I been on my own, Lord, I'ma need some help / I just wanna feel myself, you want me to kill myself / Man, it's been so damn long, dealing with the things I've felt.”
Denzel delivers this message through two scenarios, first through dealing with his own suicidal thoughts and paranoia (“I stay low so my demons don't acknowledge me / When I go, I know death don't do apologies”). Then, he reframes the message through the people surrounding him, ready to sabotage and plot in order to acquire their own “clout” (“People be thinkin' that I won the lottery / So paranoid, I don't know who be plotting on me / Out of nowhere try to fight you / I'm feeling like Raichu 'cause everything shocking to me”).
The chorus is a brilliant, if often disturbing, wordplay between the trappings of wealth and the emptiness that wealth brings when it isolates you from everyone you know: “Suicidal doors, call it Kurt Cobain / Suwoo leather seats, like a bloody stain / I need hella bass, I need hella pain / You gon' wanna cry, I'ma make it rain.” There’s a reason this song was picked as the main single for Taboo, as its tone, mood, and ingenious lyrics are the perfect encapsulation of the whole album.
Act III: Dark
The Blackest Balloon | THE 13LACKEZT 13ALLOON
Y’all, “Dark” is… dark. The tenth track of Taboo, and the opener for Act III has the darkest instrumentation and some of the most morose lyrical content. Starting with the hollow 8-bit synth motif in isolation, the sound rings out like a John Carpenter soundtrack, fitting considering the opening line, “ooh, feel like a horror movie.” The rest of the track is produced with a spare, empty sound, increasing the feelings of isolation, grief, and desperation.
In 2014, Denzel Curry’ brother, Treon Lotto Johnson, was tased to death by police. That so much of this songs focuses on how the ghosts of the past cry out to Curry, driving him to push more in the industry, make more money, make better music, be the best, is unbearably tragic. “Ooh, ooh, feel like a horror movie / Ooh, ooh, why my brother callin’ to me?” the chorus begins, where Curry opens up about having never stopped grieving his brother. He still hears Treon’s voice in his head crying for help.
The remaining lyrics are focused on Denzel trying, desperately, to prove he’s lived up to his brother’s promise (“you thought I was lame, but I made a lane,” and “leave me in the cold, but you’ll never take my soul”); and decrying the state of rap in the underground, especially its seeming obsession with prescription medication abuse (“everybody and they mama tweakin’ on that Xan shit”). His final verse lines, “look at my eyes, let the beat ride / Ain’t shit changed since Lil Peep died / On the Southside it’s suicide / In a box with a suit and tie,” prove his point that, even after losing such a popular and promising rapper as Lil Peep, at such a young age, nothing has been done to stem the tide of drug abuse in the industry: rappers still glorify using Xanax and Percocet, and there’s no real sign of it ever slowing down.
Percs | PERCZ
From here on out, Denzel only goes hard, really goddamned hard. The instrumentation drops the sparse arrangement for a moment to bring in a classic trap beat, and distorted synth chord progression, giving Curry’s lyrics extra poignance when he destroys “standard” trap hallmarks: unintelligible lyrics with no depth, drug abuse (specifically Xanax and Codeine cough syrup), and bragging about material wealth (“maybe I should go to jail to get my name up / Then get out and show you how to fuck the game up / … / I should rap about some lean and my diamond cuts / Get suburban white kids that want to hang with us”).
This may be the angriest Curry sounds in his deliveries on the album, “with these dumbass n***as, and they don’t say shit / Sound like ‘durr durr durr,’ you like, ‘oh that’s lit.’” Denzel really, really does not like when rappers aren’t coherent, and he despises the people who prop them up even more. In the chorus you can hear the rage, as he yells in the face of other trap artists, “On Tree,” a nickname for his late brother, promising him he will never fall into the deadly stereotypes of rap, “I do not fuck with the percs, I barely fuck with the Earth / On me, industry n***as the worst, actin' like they from the dirt / On me, I do not fuck with the percs, I barely fuck with the Earth / On Tree, all of them n***as I birth, tryna put me in a hearse.”
Curry’s fury is palpable, almost seething in the second verse: “Don't need a tattoo on my face 'cause Denzel is a different race / I don't even try to hate, I'm just sayin' what I ain't / People sleeping on me hard and I'm the hardest in the paint / Eight years in the game and I never rode a wave / I may be overlooked, but I'm never underpaid / And when I win a Grammy I'ma take it back to Dade / You signing to a label where they treat you like a slave.” This leads into the final chorus, which is practically screamed into the mic.
The track closes with a sample that will be repeated several times through the end of the album, “finish ‘em Zel,” a phrase Curry will use himself at the end. His anger and righteousness is so pure that Denzel can pull a Mortal Kombat move in real life: these other trap artists, they’re gone.
Vengeance | VENGEANCE
Featuring experimental rapper JPEGMAFIA and trap metal rapper ZillaKami, “Vengeance” manifests Denzel’s, Peggy’s, and Zilla’s most violent thoughts against their enemies. Curry in particular describes a vividly horrific scenario where he grinds his victims into concrete that he will then walk over (“Chop another bitch n***a up / Put them body parts in the bag / Put them body parts in the concrete / Spread the concrete across the whole city”), before entering the hardest, coldest chorus on the album, “I feel the pain, feel the rain / ‘Cause, bitch, I want revenge.”
The features from JPEG and Zilla are amazingly cold-blooded as well, with Peggy rapping “if you die, you die, pussy, meet the sky,” and “know my presence makes you bitter / Bitch, you better be cautious.” While Zilla’s verse is delivered in a low growl that accentuates the danger he poses to his enemies: “put your black ass in a duffle bag / It's not often I hope it's a closed casket / My presence alone can exterminate masses / The tongue speak spells, cause blazing rashes.”
Their bloodlust sated, the trio allow the track to swerve into a bizarrely light R&B instrumentation and a seemingly pleasant voice appears. However, we very quickly see that this is just a killer who has channeled his rage into a much more disturbing calm: “Looking in the mirror, the night has come / I've been waiting such a long, long time, to see you on / I can't help but smile as I load the bullet right / So excited, can't sit still, gonna catch you …In the moonlight.”
Black Metal Terrorist | 13 M T
In the closing moments of Taboo, the Zel persona that Curry has been portraying reaches his final form: a rapper that’s so above everyone else in the industry that his lyrics can literally kill and whose music is considered a form of terrorism.
Referencing Mortal Kombat again, the “finish ‘em Zel,” opens the song over a fairly soft orchestartion that is reminiscent of late-70s R&B or even early, slower disco. But that lasts about as long as it takes Zel to get to the last line of the chorus, “send ‘em to hell.” With that, the music switches to a dark trap beat with massive bass hits and a synth line that parrots—even mocks—the orchestration from the introduction.
The lyrics only go on to showcase just how far into Hell Zel is willing to take us, even if that means trapping himself there as well. “Inside I'm feeling so hideous / Fuck everybody, I murder you idiots / I am a little perfidious / Fuck a civilian, we're not equivalent,” he casually mentions before blasting in an even more furious voice, “I hear that life is a bitch / … / I am the mark of the beast.”
In the second (and last verse of the album), Zel turns to complete nihilism, no longer caring for anyone including himself: “Careful my angel or higher hope, I desire rope / I'm gonna live by my confidence, I'm gonna die by my arrogance / Heaven and hell is irrelevant, I be the black metal terrorist.” His vision is apocalyptic, and we’re all trapped here with him.
The final lines of the chorus, and of the album, are intercut with lines that mirror the chorus of the opener, “Taboo,” though the actual lyrics are different. Perhaps Denzel Curry, in the process of writing and creating this album, has purged himself of Zel, and can go back to the calmer, more melodic songs of the opening act. Or, perhaps, he, and by extension, we, are just doomed to repeat the cycle of victim-grief-anger-violence forever. To quote Fiona Apple (a completely different artist, but the line is a good one), “evil is a relay sport, where the one who’s burned turns to pass the torch.”
I saw a review of this album on Rate Your Music, 5/5 stars, the only text of which, “art trap?” Yes, yes it is. When I listen to Taboo, as I do very, very often, I have a thousand different reactions: sadness, rage, whatever mood it is when you hear a really kick-ass rock song, elation(?). Surely, Denzel Curry has created something that flipped trap on its face, proving that the right production, instrumentation, and CLEAR, COHERENT vocals could take the artform and turn it into something more.
Writing this article, I was finally struck with a comparison: Taboo is the hip hop Downward Spiral. Both are concept albums that follow fictional versions of the artist (Denzel Curry and Trent Reznor) as they regress to more violent, unhinged forms following a tragic event, and in doing so, help the artists give voice to the demons constantly struggling to defeat the better angels of their nature.
Taboo is a complicated portrait of Denzel Curry’s struggles with mental health, especially in the wake of his brother’s tragic death. Giving voice to those demons, while on the surface seems hedonistic and short-sighted, is actually a way to burn them out; they escape the soul, but are not invited back in. For Denzel, as for me, Taboo is catharsis.
…also the shit just rocks hardcore. Why this album isn’t medically prescribed to athletes of fight sports before each match, I will never understand.
