Denzel Curry Zuu

“A real-ass n*gga from the 305/I was raised off of Trina, Trick, Rick and Plies,” Denzel Curry says on “CAROLMART”. Since his days as a member of Raider Klan, the Miami MC has made it a point to forge a path distinct from the influences he shouts out here. But with ZUU, Curry’s fourth studio album, he returns to the well from which he sprang. The album is conspicuously street-life-oriented; Curry paints a picture of a Miami he certainly grew up in, but also one rap fans may not have associated him with previously. Within ZUU, there are references to the city’s storied history as a drug haven (“BIRDZ”), odes to Curry’s family (“RICKY”) and retellings of his personal come-up (“AUTOMATIC”), along with a unique exhibition of Miami slang on “YOO”. Across it all, Curry is the verbose, motormouthed MC he made his name as, a profile that is especially recognisable on the album closer “P.A.T.”, where he dips in and out of a bevy of flows over the kind of scuzzy, lo-fi production that set the table for another generation of South Florida rap stars.