On Thursday, Oct. 11, The Fillmore Silver Spring will host 23-year-old South Florida rapper Denzel Curry. A pioneer of the genre of SoundCloud rap (different from rap music posted on SoundCloud), Curry began his career as a member of the South Florida-based Raider Klan collective and an affiliate of the Metro Zu crew. After switching over from platforms like Youtube and the mixtape hosting DatPiff, members of Raider Klan were some of the first rappers to build up a sizeable listening base on SoundCloud. Now, five years after he dropped his first track on the platform, Curry is coming off the release of his third full-length album TA13OO.
Curry is able to enfuse the scuzzy production, intense bars, and catchy choruses that characterize the genre with an emotional intensity and elegance through his writing—his music practically quivers with pain. The cover of TA13OO features a menacing close-up of Curry’s face covered in smeared face paint. The album begins with the impressive “Taboo” where Curry describes his relationship with a woman who suffered terrible abuse growing up, transitioning from forceful rap to soulful vocals with evident skill and ease. The dissonance on tracks like “Sumo” and “Black Metal Terrorist” show Curry drawing influence from rap metal. The bouncing rhythm of “Black Balloons” belies the dark undercurrent of Curry’s contemplation of suicide in the lyrics: “Soon black balloons pop/That’ll be the day the pain stops.” The idea of pain lurking close beneath the surface is a theme Curry returns to throughout the album.
Denzel Curry will be performing at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Oct. 11 at 8pm. More information can be found here.
