Placing Denzel Curry’s 2022 Melt My Eyez See Your Future by Henry Holcomb

Placing Denzel Curry’s 2022 Melt My Eyez See Your Future

Henry Holcomb

Known best for his hit track that got everyone flipping water bottles in middle school, Denzel Curry has changed a lot since releasing Ultimate in 2015. Also known as Zel, the artist continues to step across genres and assert himself as a worthy figure in the current rap scene with his newest project Melt My Eyez See Your Future. Traditionally distinguished within the rap industry with his signature expressions of punk rap and rap metal, Curry has expanded sonically with a creative wielding of soul, alternative, and electronic sounds. Over the last several years, Curry’s participation in projects across genres both demonstrates his growth as an artist and shows a larger trend in the contemporary music scene as artists respond to an increasingly digitized market. With the rapid rise of Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services, artists across the music industry have adapted their strategies and sound to achieve success. As publishing creative projects online have become widely accessible, standing out within an increasingly crowded scene has continued to become more difficult for artists everywhere. Furthermore, the ways in which the public consume music have changed dramatically; instead of listening to projects in full as physical materials consumers have shifted their behaviors to more playlist-oriented patterns. Songs blow up, and are thrown on corresponding playlists or forgotten as the masses shift to the newest hot tracks. Now with subscription based streaming services, consumers have no obligation to listen to the larger album of a charting track, which has now effectively been reconceptualized as a collection of individual songs. In the past, albums were evaluated and purchased more commonly as complete projects: As the whole albums had to be bought in the physical, fans would put their dollars towards works that were the most impressive as a collective of their parts. With the current environment however, listeners’ barriers of choice have been removed, eroding the obligation to listen to projects as complete works. Artists are now motivated to load albums up with a myriad of songs and sounds in hopes to have as many tracks land as possible. As playlists become increasingly influential in directing streaming patterns, artists have begun to step into more genres in hopes to increase their exposure to new consumers outside of their main base. While partially a product of financial decisions, the trend of genre lines becoming increasingly blurred is nonetheless an interesting development for music sonically. While Curry’s development as an artist has followed this phenomenon it is nonetheless impressive and exciting to hear him wield an increasing arsenal of sounds.

Photo: Friedoxygen

His first album length project since the 2019 Zuu, Curry’s Melt My Eyez See Your Future strides boldly into a more mellow atmosphere. Distinguished throughout by smooth backing vocals, soul and electronic instrumentals, and more mature, fully-developed lyrics Melt My Eyez See Your Future stands out amongst Zel’s discography. Opening with Melt Session #1, the album begins in melancholy. Over a meandering piano Curry smoothly laments his struggles, establishing his flaws and resolving to his audience that he will continue to try to be a better person. He focuses on his articulation, with an introspective flow that moves unhurriedly with female backup vocals that weave with the piano. Expanding upon Melt Session #1, the second track Walkin scales continues the scaled-back production with bass guitar and soft drums pushing the song along. Repeating female vocals take up equal space as Zel’s bars, merely an arm of the song –instead of the sole focus of the track, his words are merely a part of the journey he has embarked on.

Curry begins to have more confidence in his voice on the third track, Worst Comes To Worst. While still flowing well with previous tracks with its choir of background voices, Worst Comes To Worst carries a certain paranoia as backup vocals leave the listener with a sense of foreboding. Curry’s emphasis of collective struggle is emphasized through a more raucous execution that is underscored well with the more electronic flares of the track. The next song, John Wayne, highlights this fusion more extremely and is indisputably a JPEGMAFIA-produced track. While maintaining a mellow production style with strange electronic alien-sounding whirrs JPEG loves. The Last, the fifth track, starts with a lofi sound before falling quickly into a more typical trap beat that leans on high-hats as Zel continues his theme of rapping about the ills of the United States. Zel speeds up his flow, throwing criticism at poverty, racism, and the prevalence of performative activism. Once again slowing things down, Curry brings Bridget Perez and Saul Williams in on the next track, Mental. Perhaps the most vulnerable song so far, Mental features lyrics of Curry’s struggles with depression over a soulful chorus and Perez’s backing vocals that are buoyed by piano, drums, and bass. Curry ends the track with a declaration of how he has matured as an artist as Saul Williams asserts, “[I] Needed somethin’ death could dance to / Changed my whole style up, so used to the slickness / Sorrow streamlined into story / Dancing alone in front of speakers my whole life.” The whole end of the song is a display of expert lyricism and I would really recommend you listen to Curry’s vulnerable poetry.

"She Spider"

Art: Elise Hudson

Marking the halfway point of the project, Troubles begins a transition of the album away from smoother soul sounds and into a more recognizable Denzel sound. Produced by Kenny Beats, the song’s production feels more contemporary with trills and heavily manipulated vocals, pitched up for the song’s chorus. Featuring T-Pain, the song is a curious one, sounding like if DaBaby’s ROCKSTAR was made emo and ran through a teletubbies episode (and I would have it no other way). Trust me, you’ll have to listen to it to get what I mean. Ain’t No Way follows this track as a group project, featuring 6LACK Rico, JID, Jasiah, and Kitty Ca$h. This song features abrasive trap beats with verses feeling like chaotic celebration as the artists interrupt each other. While this song is fun, it definitely stands out from the rest of the album; Zel spoke to this in an interview in the Bootleg Kev Podcast stating he didn’t originally intend to have the song as his own track. Nevertheless, the cacophonous energy of the track flows well, a product of J.I.D’s his experience navigating full tracks from his time in Spillage village and Dreamville projects. X-Wing, the ninth track, continues with a signature Zel trap sound and high-energy chest thumping lyrics about his success. Angelz, the next track, finds the artist revisiting sounds from the first half of the album and pairing them with the lyrical execution present through his trappier tracks. Where Walkin on the album held Curry’s vocals on equal ground as its backup vocals, Angelz demonstrates that the artist has taken a hold of his destiny –no longer a passenger to his life. Curry puts his foot down, he will no longer be kicked around or capitalized on.

While The Smell Of Death is the shortest track on the album, it packs a punch. Zel jumps into instrumentals where jazzy sounds fight against harsh electronic sounds with vocals that say “watch out,” to their listeners. After the first verse, the track pivots from threatening to gloating; emphasizing the artist’s confidence. Sanjuro hits you immediately after, transitioning from The Smell Of Death like a fist punching a wall. 454, featured on the song, provides a smooth verse on the track giving this song an impeccable flow. Pauses between verses feel like breaths of air before being thrown underwater again. Out of all the tracks, Sanjuro definitely is the trappiest. Returning to the now-familiar female backup vocals, Zel raps with an urgency over a glitchy breakbeat in Zatoichi. The drums fight against Zel’s words, crowding each other in continuous crescendo only to be pushed to the side as slowthai’s chorus speeds up the track. Both rappers compete against the song’s instrumentals, fighting to get words between drum beats. This song is frenzied but executed in a way that makes it one of my favorites on the album. Closing the album is The Ills. This song’s jazzy piano sounds like something from the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Through the track, louder bass and record scratches build on top of the piano layer transitioning the song into a beat more rooted in 80s hip hop. Curry seems to find a peace with this track, settling somewhere between the polar ends of the sounds he’s been experimenting with up until this point. He has transcended labels limiting his sound, realizing his ability to express himself on his own terms. The track too provides a sense of closure for Curry, as he translates his pain into his craft: “I’m seein’ illusions in the pockets of my brain / I use it, then find a way to illustrate my pain.” Melt My Eyez See Your Future remains a project of introspection and self-love. Curry recognizes his troubles and embraces them with a non-judgemental gaze, looking instead at what he can become. The album is one of quiet resolve –or as quiet as Zel will give you– where Curry considers who he can become both personally and professionally. This project demonstrates a vulnerability and maturity that is not easy to build. From Zuu to Melt My Eyez See Your Future, it is clear that Curry has grown into himself more. His experimentation into new sounds shows his commitment to becoming a better artist and his collaborations on other’s projects since Zuu demonstrates the stones that Curry stepped from sonically to reach this vulnerable album. Music is a mouthpiece for Curry, and a coping mechanism; and this project is an expression of the artist exploring new strategies to speak and to heal as he looks forward.

Image: Billy Bratton

Below is a selection of Denzel collaborations since Zuu to explore further:

Also worth a listen is Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats 2020 Unlocked project.

Soul / Jazz Inspired

Pig Feet - Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, G Perico, Daylyt

Got My Back - RIMON

Count My Blessings - Anna Wise

Punk Rap / Rap Metal

Bleach / Draino - Zillakami

Art of War - Jasiah, Rico Nasty

Bad Day - Nyck Caution

Kill Us All - The Neighbourhood

Electronic

Dog Food - IDK

Take Care In Your Dreaming - The Avalanches

FTP - BIJOU

Bloodrush - Andrew Broder, Dual Selah, Haleek Maul

Tokyo Drifting - Glass Animals

Other

BALD! REMIX - JPEGMAFIA

A+ - Kenny Mason

African Samurai - Flying Lotus

terms - slowthai, Dominic Fike

Bruuuh - JID

NoFi