Gorilla Zoe - "Money Up" (mp3)
I'm not sure whether it's an impressive amount of autonomy granted to a relatively new imprint, or proof that they're being tossed out as a tax writeoff for the parent label, but Diddy seems to have a really supportive yet hands-off approach to Block Entertainment since Yung Joc gave Bad Boy its biggest non-Diddy album in ages. Recently, Block Ent. released three albums in the space of 6 weeks, all after shooting just one video for each and not delaying or heavily hyping up any of them. None of them have been big sellers, but I can't imagine any of them lost money. Out of Joc, Boyz N Da Hood and Gorilla Zoe, Zoe was the only debut album and despite having the hottest single out of them, the odds seemed to be against him. Pretty much the first time anybody heard of him was when he was drafted to take Jeezy's spot in BNDH, which was pretty anti-climactic after everyone from Wayne to Rick Ross to T.I. had been rumored to take the job. Maybe Block figured him dropping at the same time as the group album would do for Zoe what it did for Jeezy, but the stars didn't align quite like that, though he's not doing bad.
Welcome To The Zoo is definitely the most low budget out of the three albums, too. Literally the only producer on the entire album that I've heard of beforehand at all is Drumma Boy (and this album's liner notes are in just about the tiniest, least readable font I've ever seen, which makes it pretty hard to even figure out exactly what the other producers' names are). Well, him plus after getting the album I saw that "Hood Figga" producer Chris Flame co-produced the intro to Jay's American Gangster, with Idris "Stringer Bell" Elba, of all people. And every single guest on Welcome is someone else on the Block Ent. or Bad Boy roster: Yung Joc on two tracks, hooks by a chick from Danity Kane and some guy name JC, and numerous collabs with the other members of BNDH, including three appearances by both Jody Breeze and Big Gee. I haven't heard Back Up N Da Chevy, but all of Jody Breeze's appearances on Welcome To The Zoo make me really wish it was him coming out with a solo album right now (I like Jazze Pha as a producer more than most people, but I gotta begrudge him for not taking a little of that Ciara money and making JB a priority).
It's kind of easy to just think of Gorilla Zoe as a slightly more credible version of Yung Joc's cartoonish distortion of Southern gangsta cliches, but he more or less stays in his own lane and only falls into Joc-style bullshit on the two tracks with Joc (one of them "Juice Box," features perhaps the most disgusting hook of the year: "I make her juice box drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip"). Zoe has a really weird grainy voice that sometimes sounds really smooth and relaxed, like on "Hood Figga," but sounds completely different and sandpapery on a lot of the deep cuts (one thing about "Hood Figga": the fact that he references "Gold Digger" and "I Should've Cheated" makes me feel like that song must've been in the can for 2 years before becoming a hit; has Ashanti even been famous since like 2005?). The weirdest thing I realized on my last listen of the album is that the voice that Gorilla Zoe most reminds me of when he gets hoarse is cross-dressing Baltimore club legend Miss Tony. Most of the album is kind of by-the-numbers and forgettable, but when it's good, it's pretty damn good, especially "Money Up," which could very easily follow "Ain't Gon Let Up" and "Crank That" in the recent run of Southern rap hits with hooks built around catchy steel drum-sampling melodies. That beat is a monster, I just wish I could make out the producer's name (I'm pretty sure it says "produced by Win for Self-Made Productions" but it's hard to be sure).
I'm not sure whether it's an impressive amount of autonomy granted to a relatively new imprint, or proof that they're being tossed out as a tax writeoff for the parent label, but Diddy seems to have a really supportive yet hands-off approach to Block Entertainment since Yung Joc gave Bad Boy its biggest non-Diddy album in ages. Recently, Block Ent. released three albums in the space of 6 weeks, all after shooting just one video for each and not delaying or heavily hyping up any of them. None of them have been big sellers, but I can't imagine any of them lost money. Out of Joc, Boyz N Da Hood and Gorilla Zoe, Zoe was the only debut album and despite having the hottest single out of them, the odds seemed to be against him. Pretty much the first time anybody heard of him was when he was drafted to take Jeezy's spot in BNDH, which was pretty anti-climactic after everyone from Wayne to Rick Ross to T.I. had been rumored to take the job. Maybe Block figured him dropping at the same time as the group album would do for Zoe what it did for Jeezy, but the stars didn't align quite like that, though he's not doing bad.
Welcome To The Zoo is definitely the most low budget out of the three albums, too. Literally the only producer on the entire album that I've heard of beforehand at all is Drumma Boy (and this album's liner notes are in just about the tiniest, least readable font I've ever seen, which makes it pretty hard to even figure out exactly what the other producers' names are). Well, him plus after getting the album I saw that "Hood Figga" producer Chris Flame co-produced the intro to Jay's American Gangster, with Idris "Stringer Bell" Elba, of all people. And every single guest on Welcome is someone else on the Block Ent. or Bad Boy roster: Yung Joc on two tracks, hooks by a chick from Danity Kane and some guy name JC, and numerous collabs with the other members of BNDH, including three appearances by both Jody Breeze and Big Gee. I haven't heard Back Up N Da Chevy, but all of Jody Breeze's appearances on Welcome To The Zoo make me really wish it was him coming out with a solo album right now (I like Jazze Pha as a producer more than most people, but I gotta begrudge him for not taking a little of that Ciara money and making JB a priority).
It's kind of easy to just think of Gorilla Zoe as a slightly more credible version of Yung Joc's cartoonish distortion of Southern gangsta cliches, but he more or less stays in his own lane and only falls into Joc-style bullshit on the two tracks with Joc (one of them "Juice Box," features perhaps the most disgusting hook of the year: "I make her juice box drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip"). Zoe has a really weird grainy voice that sometimes sounds really smooth and relaxed, like on "Hood Figga," but sounds completely different and sandpapery on a lot of the deep cuts (one thing about "Hood Figga": the fact that he references "Gold Digger" and "I Should've Cheated" makes me feel like that song must've been in the can for 2 years before becoming a hit; has Ashanti even been famous since like 2005?). The weirdest thing I realized on my last listen of the album is that the voice that Gorilla Zoe most reminds me of when he gets hoarse is cross-dressing Baltimore club legend Miss Tony. Most of the album is kind of by-the-numbers and forgettable, but when it's good, it's pretty damn good, especially "Money Up," which could very easily follow "Ain't Gon Let Up" and "Crank That" in the recent run of Southern rap hits with hooks built around catchy steel drum-sampling melodies. That beat is a monster, I just wish I could make out the producer's name (I'm pretty sure it says "produced by Win for Self-Made Productions" but it's hard to be sure).
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