Daily Discovery is a feature that will highlight a new or recently discovered artist that we’re excited about. See the rest of our Daily Discoveries here.
This year was my first time at SXSW, and the experience was not really what I expected. Sure, our show went fantastically well, and Austin was as friendly and welcoming a city as I had hoped, but SXSW 2014 felt as if it was dominated by bigger name artists. Although the new artist discovery element did not seem to be the focus of the festival (partly my fault of course), there was one new artist that we came away really excited about. And that artist was ZelooperZ.
ZelooperZ, a 20-year-old member of Danny Brown’s Bruiser Brigade crew, performed early on Saturday at the COMPLEX Complex, coming out to a lethargic crowd, still recovering from the night before, and delivering an energetic performance that quickly had the hook of “Hit A Lick” stuck in everyone’s head. Later that night, he came out to perform “Kush Coma” (he’s on the hook) and “Hit A Lick” with Brown at the Red Bull event, demonstrating the kind of magnetic stage presence that quickly wins over an audience.
It’s hard to get too excited by an artist when all their music online is over a year old, so we were happy to see ZelooperZ drop a new song, “Plateau,” our first taste of his forthcoming album HELP. The song is nearly three minutes straight of manic, frenetic rapping—no hook necessary—with ZelooperZ coming with an elastic delivery and lyrics that suggest a mind full of unbridled creativity. Just like the brilliantly next level “Hit A Lick,” new song “Plateau” posits ZelooperZ alongside artists like Young Thug and Danny Brown who are taking rap to all sorts of exciting places, through production choices and style of rapping.
Listen to new song “Plateau” above, and “Hit a Lick” below. Look out for more from ZelooperZ, coming soon.
