In 1995, Zu Keeper made his debut in the mainstream rap industry as a member of the New York hip-hop group Brooklyn Zu, in turn a subgroup of the Wu-Tang Clan, featuring on Russell "Ol' Dirty Bastard" Jones' seminal debut album "Return to the 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version)".
In the circumstance, Zu Keeper is mumbling random things between the verses of Prodigal Sunn of Sunz of Man and Murdoc, another rapper of Brooklyn Zu, and in the end I don't think he gets writing credit for his contribution. Four years later, Dirt McGirt releases his second studio album and Zu Keeper participates in both "Recognize", exchanging a few bars with BZA on a track with Pharrell and Chris Rock on a Neptunes production, both "Gettin' High", a posse track from his group Brooklyn Zu where the boy, also known under the pseudonym Raison Allah (or Rayson), performs intro, hook and outro and gets a writing credit, appearing on what is nevertheless one of the least considered tracks of the project.
In 2008, he took part in Brooklyn Zu's album "Chamber #9, Verse 32" and in the same year he contributed to a song by RZA for his latest album "Digi Snacks", "You Can't Stop Me Now", without being credited, and again in 2008 one of his contributions was included in "Thought for Food, Vol. 1 & 2" a compilation by Wisemen leader Bronze Nazareth.
Ten years later, Zu Keeper emerges from the darkness with a haunted look while New York appears to be burning in the background. He places the Wu-Tang logo the size of a house in front and the title acronym in red in front, then at the bottom also the title itself in yellow. For his first official studio album, the boy doesn't spare himself and brings the whole family of Wu-Tang Clan affiliates, Wu-Tang Killa Beez, in his project, which more than being an album by him and a compilation of Killa Beez songs.
Behind the keyboards are Zu Keeper himself (also credited as Raison Allah), RZA, Fruitkwan aka Frukwan, Chi-King, Free Murder and Heaven Razah, as well as Ty-Flow (also credited as Tyshaw Jones), Misscells, Corey Jones, Jappa, DJ 2Evil, Lucky Skills, Tre Irie, The Last Composer, J-9 and OFCL. The album is co-produced by Shaka Amazulu the 7th.
The tracks are performed by Wu-Tang Clan members ODB, RZA, Inspectah Deck & U-God, 12 O'Clock, Chi-King & Shorty Shit Stain of Brooklyn Zu, 60 Second Assassin & Hell Razah of Sunz of Man, Young Dirty Bastard of 2nd Generation Wu, Frukwan of Gravediggaz, Free Murder of CCF Division, 5 Foot Hyper Sniper of Zu-Ninjaz, Napoleon, Shaka Amazulu the 7th & Solomon Childs of School of the Gifted, Blaqe Diamond, General Jihad, I Cypha da God, Joey IcePIck, Phoenix Flame & Voo O DU of Birdz of Prey, Daddy Rose of Black Rose Kartel, Christbearer & Meko the Pharaoh of Northstar, as well as external guests T-Flow, Misscells, Da Session, Lil Homie, Doom Squad, Golden Boys, Core Masson, Blakk Royal, Kasey Anasazi, Lifestylez, Chaz, Iceman and Murda Anthony McCall.
After the intro by Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ty-Flow provides a bouncy beat to pay homage to ODB on "Take You Away", with an average rap in his solo cut. As a third choice, Zu Keeper offers "Skrilla", a song included in "A Son Unique" (2005), where the Wu-Tang Clan star goes off over a RZA production. The following song, produced and performed by Misscelis, it's negligible scarce trap that doesn't deserve attention, as well as the next tune, a quite forgettable Da Session solo piece over a mediocre trap beat created by Corey Jones. “Lil Homie” offers a self-titled track sung over a shoddy rhythm credited to Jappa. Track number seven is a good extract from Frukwan of Gravediggaz, good rap on his own honest production, even if not very good.
“Just Can’t Get It Right” is a rare and surprising gem from this project. A girl starts singing and after half a minute it is suddenly replaced by "A Fistful of Dollars, No. 2", one of the final songs of the wonderful soundtrack created by Ennio Morricone for the first spaghetti western movie of Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy, "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964). The sample resonates in an enveloping loop, accompanied by a sandy bass and from a dusty and muddy drum [that come directly] from the Mexican [city] San Miguel. Inside Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA owns the track and together with him there are the son of ODB Young Dirty Bastard member of the group 2nd Generation Wu and Brooklyn Zu boys 12 O'Clock and Shorty Shit Stain. On this wonderful soundscape invented by Bobby Steels, the boys give Zu Keeper the best cut of the tape.
The cornerstone rapper of Sunz of Man 60 Second Assassin presents himself with a solo produced by Zu Keeper: good melodic boom bap, good rap from the emcee also affiliated with the Brooklyn Zu Fam. The group Doom Squad gets a showcase on this tape with their own track featuring members Blakk Royal, Kasey Anasazi and Lifestylez over an okay beat by DJ 2Evil. "No Hook" is a sort of fun cypher over a light-hearted Lucky Skills beat featuring Chaz, Iceman and Brooklyn Zu 12 O'Clock, Chi-King and Zu Keeper. The rapper Free Murder of CCF Division brings his self-produced solo tune that boasts a melodic rhythmic solution and an amateur rapping execution. The track isn't bad and precedes "Hustle" by Core Masson with Murda Anthony McCall on a beat credited to Corey Jones, this choice also goes unnoticed. Zu Keeper places a half-minute freestyle over his somewhat raucous production on "Zoo House".
Choice number fifteen falls on the shoulders of RZA. Here is a remix of "You Can't Stop Me Now", a Steelz song that the author released ten years earlier for his album "Digi Snacks" (2008). After more than two minutes of skit, this remix keeps the same beat created by RZA, with an iconic sample from "Message from a Black Man" by The Whatnauts, excellent bass, light drum, guitar and sparse keyboards played by Stone Mecca, solid acoustic guitar played by Dhani Harrison, son of George, in Bobby Digital, Rebel INS and U-God, uncredited in the original cut, along with Zu Keeper, who probably shouts in the background.
It follows a solo track by rapper 5 Foot Hyper Sniper of Zu-Ninjaz, a Brooklyn Zu-affiliated group, which dedicates a song to ODB on an excellent production by Tre Irie, former producer of RZA in 2009. "Contain the Sickness" gets the same opening sample as "You Don't Own Me", another song by Zu Keeper later included in "New Wu Generation, Pt. 1 (The A-Sides)". The sample comes from "Dream Merchant" by New Birth. Switch beat towards a melodic production to support the sharp delivery of three swordsmen from the School of the Gifted group, Napoleon, Shaka Amazulu the 7th and Solomon Childs.
Zu Keeper gets a moment to shine on "Our Life, a Hustle" with a good execution on a pleasant self-produced melodic rhythm. "Flock Together" is a posse track by the band Birdz of Prey, part of the West Coast Killa Beez crew. Brooklyn Zu rapper Chi-King also gets a self-produced solo track with "Train of Thought", as well as Sunz of Man lead emcee Hell Razah with “Gangster Gematria” over his own beat credited to Heaven Razah. At the end of the album there's also room for Daddy Rose of Black Rose Kartel and early member of Killah Priest's group Maccabeez, reciting bars on a Raps production. The last real track of the project is left to the West Coast Northstar group, composed of Christbearer and Meko, who deliver verses over an OFCL beat, minimal beat that sounds stolen from Dalek on which the guys don't seem very inspired. A RZA outro closes.
The album is released on January 1, 2018 by ZuFilms and Black Stone of Mecca. 24 tracks, 80 minutes of material. Despite the abundance of more than good moments ("Just Can't Get It Right", "Caught Up in the Galaxy", "You Can't Stop Me Now (Remix Version)", "R.I.P. O.D.B.", "The Sick-ness"), the tape fails to stand out, both because of the abundance of the offer and because of the often below-average quality of the music on offer.
The following June, Zu Keeper released the CD "New Wu Generation (A-Sides)" for ZuFilms, a sort of EP composed of discarded and removed tracks from the previous album. Of these eleven songs, five tracks are also available on streaming sites, for the rest you need to buy the disc. Tracks not on streaming services are "STFU" by Zu Keeper, "Done That" and "New Wu" by Cuffie Crime Family, "Birth Right" by Birdz of Prey, "7 Star Preying Mantis" by Shaka Amazulu the 7th and " Megaman" by PiRo.
Those present are instead "Dope Boy", where Ty Flow and Shorty Shit Stain of Brooklyn Zu deliver with a light-hearted style over Ty Flow's trap production, Zu-Ninjaz's "Hip-Hop" posse featuring 5 Foot Hyper Sniper, K-Blunt and Courtney Danger over a questionable rhythm provided by Noise, "7 Piece of Mind" where Napoleon crafts a track better than usual over a solid beat from T Rifik, "Protect Ya Neck II the Zoo", which is the 1995 track from Ol' Dirty Bastard that features everyone (ODB himself, Brooklyn Zu and Sunz of Man over a RZA beat) and finally "You Don't Own Me".
“You Don’t Own Me” is one of the best cuts from the two CDs released by Zu Keeper during 2018. It begins with a sample from New Birth's "Dream Merchant", the same one that ends up being in the School of the Gifted song "Contain the Sickness" featured in the other project, and which I had more difficulty than usual in finding for whatever reason. Also in this case there's a switch beat that coincides with that of the classic from which the title is taken, one of the best songs ever, "You Don't Owe Me" by Leslie Gore, whose candid voice leads the way for RZA in this cut in which Diggs himself is credited as producer. I have no idea if this is a loosie by him or a freestyle on Gore's song which has been online since at least 2011, in any case Zu Keeper collects it and makes it legitimate by bringing it into his project, it also becomes one of the Brooklyn Zu member's most listened to songs on streaming sites. Overall, this EP opens strong and closes very strong, the central part leaves a little to be desired.
No comments:
Post a Comment