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There is a lot
of pressure on Gorilla Zoe right about now. First, he must fill
multi-platinum rapper Young Jeezy’s shoes in the gold selling group
Boyz N Da Hood. Second, he must hold his own on a label that has
living legends 8Ball & MJG and multi-platinum artist Young Joc.
After receiving a respectable buzz from his single “Hood Figga“, the
American Gangster” mixtape series, and making an appearance on Young
Joc’s lead singles “Coffee Shop” and “Bottle Poppin” Gorilla Zoe is
ready to show the world what he is made of.
Zoe comes out gunning with his freshman effort. Like everybody and
their Momma these days most of Zoe’s album is dedicated to the trap.
However, his ability to expand beyond the trap is what makes this
album better than expected.
The album begins with Drumma Boy(Memphis Producer of Plies “Shawty”,
USDA “White Girl”) lacing the backdrop as Gorilla Zoe dares all fake
rappers to “Do Something,Do Somethin’,I mean anything!” On the first
verse he asks, “I think your favorite rapper is a sissy, I thought
he was a gangster/Why they got ‘em lookin’ pretty?” From here the
album only goes harder with street bangers like “Hood N*gga”, “Money
Man”, “Trynna Make A Jug”, and “Crack Muzik” in that order.
The highlights of the album are songs like “I Know”, “Battlefield”,
“Real Motherfucker”, “Juice Box”, and “Count On Me”. These songs
provide the balance for the album. Many artists make songs similar
to trap anthems that opened the album up, but the originality of
these songs shows that Gorilla Zoe is here to stay.
The downfall of the album is that the content has already been heard
before. I am not sure how many ways an artist can tell us about the
trap, and frankly it’s getting played out. Still, Gorilla Zoe
manages to be consistent throughout the album while stepping out of
his comfort zone just enough to show us what he is capable of.
Living in a period where artist are surviving off ring tones, and
putting out mediocre albums it is refreshing to hear Gorilla Zoe.
Block Ent/Bad Boy South’s newest artist turned in a great freshman
year. The fact that Soulja Boy has sold more records than Gorilla
Zoe shows the state of the music industry. Do us all a favor and go
buy Gorilla Zoe’s album we need quality music.
Review By: Bryan D. Walton |
Gorilla Zoe has been very busy this year, first he released his album with Boyz N Da Hood "Back Up N Da Chevy" and most recently he just dropped his solo album "Welcome To The Zoo" which features the hit songs "Hood Figga" & "Trying To Make A Jug" But is his album worth getting? We think so.
