InRO Weekly — Volume 1, Issue 16
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
slow him down, with the rapper/painter<br />
(now 30) only building momentum in the<br />
seven years between Bothic’s release and<br />
now, dropping eight records along the<br />
way.<br />
A new one, Microphone Fiend, which landed<br />
at the start of April, puts Zelooperz at an<br />
impressive nine albums since 20<strong>16</strong>, a<br />
rather remarkable pace for any musician,<br />
even in the hyper-fast streaming era. It's<br />
also remarkable that his output remains<br />
solid and dynamic, Microphone Fiend<br />
offering no particular drop in quality from<br />
the horror-tinged Gremlin, nor the more<br />
freewheeling Dyno-Mite (on which he and<br />
Danny reconvene to trade verses over the<br />
Crash Bandicoot music) <strong>—</strong> both highlights<br />
of this recent rapid-fire release schedule.<br />
On the other hand, Microphone Fiend isn’t<br />
so much better or so much more<br />
distinctive than those other projects (pop<br />
R&B concept album Get WeT.Radio could<br />
at least claim the latter), all of them<br />
decent enough, often amusing, but<br />
generally a few songs short of being<br />
wholly great. Album opener “Climate<br />
Change” kicks things off by sampling<br />
Little Richard’s 1988 Grammy presenter<br />
gig (“And the best new artist is… Me!”), as<br />
if to signal Zelooperz frustrations with<br />
the continued lack of industry respect,<br />
before launching into a jaunty, rolling<br />
Chuck Inglish beat worthy of Chance the<br />
Rapper. His vocal affectations end up<br />
landing somewhere near Chano’s as well,<br />
ALBUM REVIEWS<br />
while still often bringing DB to mind,<br />
operating on a gradient that runs from a<br />
yelp to a bark.<br />
To his credit, Zelooperz never appears<br />
constrained by these seemingly narrow<br />
parameters, challenging his delivery to<br />
adapt to a range of production<br />
possibilities (“Demon n Deities” taking<br />
this to a near experimental extreme),<br />
though really it’s mostly the more<br />
aggressive, hard-hitting beats (“Bustin<br />
Jieber,” “Can’t Fill Your Tank”) that<br />
provoke his strongest performances, as<br />
has often been the case in the past. At<br />
times a charming, elusive figure, at other<br />
times a bit too taken with juvenalia and<br />
“weird humor,” Zelooperz continues to<br />
define his world with Microphone<br />
Fiend without necessarily<br />
making huge progress. Still, one<br />
gets the sense that this record,<br />
like the rest, could be a piece of<br />
a bigger picture. The last few<br />
years have found Zelooperz<br />
collaborating fruitfully outside<br />
and underneath the Bruiser<br />
Brigade umbrella, finding worthy<br />
peers like Earl Sweatshirt,<br />
BbyMutha, Pink Siifu, Fly Anakin,<br />
etc. <strong>—</strong> inspiring artists with<br />
interesting approaches to the<br />
genre. This, in tandem with the<br />
consistent quality of his<br />
projects, is reason enough to<br />
continue to believe Zelooperz is<br />
carving out a notable space in<br />
hip hop right now. <strong>—</strong> M.G.<br />
MAILLOUX<br />
LABEL: Bruiser Brigade;<br />
RELEASE DATE: March 28<br />
32