Denzel Curry has always been sort of an anomaly, never quite fitting in anywhere in rap; although he’s of this new generation of rappers, he’s never really felt comparable to the others in this wave, and he’s too different from the ‘traditional’ rapper to be lumped in with them either. That’s probably a large part of why he’s never really broken through like some might have thought. Unlike most of those artists given the ‘soundcloud’ rap label, Denzel clearly cares about his craft, what he’s saying, and the theatrics of it all. TA13OO (Taboo) feels like it was meant to be some sort of concept album with a clear message it wanted to convey. But its execution fell well short of its intention; it’s highly varied in it’s styles and songs but it ends up just feeling disjointed because of that wild variance and no matter how much conviction he puts into what he’s saying it all feels forced and hollow as a result. There’s definitely some interesting concepts on the project, but as whole it didn’t really deliver something very compelling – still leaving Denzel Curry on the outside looking in.
You loving me is forbidden, loving you back is a crime
I wrote this poem for you, forever remain in my rhymes
I knew you wasn’t normal ever since the age of nine
I, heard you were molested when you hit the age of five
So, in a sense I sensed that all your innocence had died– “Taboo”
Have you heard TA13OO? What’d you think of it? Do you think this will really help establish Denzel Curry in hip-hop? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave your own ratings and reactions for the album.
