Review: ZillaKami goes all out on “DOG BOY”
Review: ★★★★
Top Track: “Bleach”
Underground group City Morgue, consisting of ZillaKami and São Paulo rapper SosMula, began their rise to prominence a few years ago. They took the edgiest attributes of contemporary rap and amplified them by incorporating elements of rock and metal. While Zilla was always considered the one with a more viable path to solo success, it remained to be seen what the 22-year-old was capable of on a full length album. On “DOG BOY,” he takes everything unique about his previous music and turns it up to 11, giving longtime fans everything they’ve wanted and a good deal more.
I’m not in a position to judge someone for being hesitant towards the music of anyone who gives themself the label of “rap-rock,”, with how pervasive the trend of putting 808s on things and saying you made a new genre of music has been in certain pockets of the internet. But Zilla’s integration of the music that he grew up listening to in this album is genuine, and, more importantly, it works.
This is in no small part due to the care that was taken in producing and mixing this album. A perfect fusion of hip-hop, nu metal and grunge, nothing feels out of place. Yung Germ, a frequent collaborator with City Morgue and the producer of the majority of the songs on “DOG BOY,” shows a great deal of improvement himself. He gives more space in his mixes to simple but addictive guitar loops. This gives the songs more character and allows Zilla’s unique flow to stand out. His contribution on the 68-second banger “631 MAKES ME” provides for an attempt, closer than anything else in the duo’s catalogue, to match the ridiculous benchmark of hype set by “33rd Blakk Glass.” The foundation of the song is a heavily distorted classic metal guitar loop, the type of instrumentation that makes you excited because you can already tell the song is going to hit before the beat drops.
Zilla’s adherence to the “fast song / slow song” format is somewhat limiting, but it results in good music nonetheless. The more aggressive tracks of “DOG BOY” are an iteration of the hard-hitting trap style City Morgue has always been known for. “Chewing Gum!” is an amazing start off to the album, fast-paced and energizing without being excessive. “Lemon Juice” is like a war cry on a punk riff, just as electrifying and only slightly less terrifying than the duo’s best songs. “Nissan Only” is a song made in the horrorcore style of trap that some of Zilla’s closest contemporaries are popular for. His execution here is pretty good, but it’s easy to imagine that the song would be more complete with a supporting SosMula verse.
In lieu of his frequent collaborator, ZillaKami lands his largest profile feature yet, collaborating with Lil Uzi in the lead single “BADASS.” If the more ambitious songs of Eternal Atake show anything, it’s that Uzi is willing to use his signature flow over almost anything, letting the main artist do his own thing without having to adjust to fit a more mainstream style.
“DOG BOY” isn’t the first time that ZillaKami has tried his hand at melancholy songs of this style; City Morgue’s 2019 album “AS GOOD AS DEAD” features a few songs on which they attempt this. In this album, Zilla uses his free space by expanding and improving upon these previous iterations. The production of some of these songs partially adopt the harsher timbres used in the previous songs, but the melodies match the mood of classic Nirvana songs. Zilla isn’t quite Kurt Cobain, but he certainly sounds much better than he did just a few years ago, both vocally and in terms of songwriting. “dedgrl” is an example of a song which best showcases this improvement. In it, the Long Island artist paints expressive pictures of people in seemingly hopeless situations, centering around a simple chorus with the implication of suicide.
The most prevalent theme is that of responsibility. On “FROSTY,” Zilla’s grimly delivered “I’m sorry that I couldn’t be the one” is a stab to the heart for everyone that feels as though they have an obligation to somebody else that they failed to meet. The eerie closing song “Space Cowboy” is the confession of someone haunted by the ghost of someone that he feels he failed to save. After a string of deaths among many of the most popular up-and-comers in hip-hop, many of whom had the same musical inspirations as Zilla, it is easy to see why he would be worried about what he talks about in this album.
My personal favorite of “DOG BOY’s” 13 tracks is “Bleach.” Over a calming melody and acoustic drums, ZillaKami spills his guts about the feelings that he wrestles in a way that is much more direct than anything else on this album. Denzel Curry spits an amazing verse that perfectly matches this tone, returning the favor for Zilla’s feature on Curry’s 2018 album “TA1300.” Zilla’s raspy voice harmonizes and delivers an amazing chorus that has been stuck in my head since I first heard it.
It’s common for new artists to start strong, reach a high point early on, and spend the rest of their careers never returning to form, either for lack of inspiration or lack of motivation. But if the high points of this album tell me anything, it’s that ZillaKami has just gotten started, and that he has plenty of both.
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