Born in Louisiana, based in Colorado. Zawazouee is a member of the handful of hip-hop artists teetering on the borderline of the genre, but never quite going over. He’s prevalent enough to earn recognition from some pockets of the masses and strange enough to attract adoration from alternative and hip-hop heads. The tone of his voice alone is enough to spark conversation, and he delivers his raps with an off-kilter but deft lyricism that is simultaneously abrasive and beguiling. His energetic beats will hover in heavy rotation at all-night parties, while his left-field lyrical delivery will remain with the listener long after the music has faded. His latest track “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It”, continues this musical narrative in a warped parallel sonic universe, its intoxicated electro haze shrouding any sense of convention.
“Didn’t Want To Have To Do It” finds Zawazouee employing flows that almost nobody else would attempt. He matches his cadence to the melodic line of a growling synth, his rhyme pattern fluctuating with every spiraling chord progression. The great thing about Zawazouee is that the further he strays from convention, the better he sounds.
Here he wields his eccentric rhyming like a weapon, and consequently, he’s all the more magnetic. Because of the sheer singularity of his style, Zawazouee proves that he’s one of the most refreshing voices in the underground right now.
While Zawazouee’s outlandishness distances him somewhat from the core of current mainstream hip-hop artists, his mission statement is laid out clearly on “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It”. He’s running in a completely different lane.
This one of the most daring and engaging tracks released this year so far. It’s not for everyone, but as more and more rappers hitch a ride on the trap train in order to maintain marketability, Zawazouee’s crusade in the opposite direction is praiseworthy. He is truly at best with beats most rappers wouldn’t know what to with.
The dazzling and roller-coaster “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It” pushes Zawazouee’s electronic sound in more extreme, musically innovative directions to match the extremity that’s in his words. The track opens with a dark piano jam before exploding into a driving abrasive synth groove, and then going back and forth over the formula again.
From there the track has the feeling of a focusing in and broadening out, in search of the source of Zawazouee’s narrative. Compared to the many trap records these days that try to be weird but end up sounding pretty uniform and boring, this song is in another league. With this track, Zawazouee is perfecting his unique style, and has created his best record yet.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – INSTAGRAM – TWITTER – YOUTUBE
