49-424: Melt My Eyez See Your Future is the fifth studio album by American rapper Denzel Curry , released through PH and Loma Vista Recordings on March 25, 2022. The album includes features from Robert Glasper , Buzzy Lee , Saul Williams , Bridget Perez, T-Pain , 6lack , Rico Nasty , JID , Jasiah , 454, and Slowthai , and production from Cardo , FnZ , Thundercat , JPEGMafia , and Kenny Beats , among others. It
98-405: A Western -inspired music video directed by Adrian Villagomez, was released. Curry also said the album "is made up of everything that I couldn't [include] on Ta13oo or Imperial because I was going through depression [and] anger issues", and would take inspiration from traditional hip-hop, drum and bass , trap , poetry , and jazz . The same day, a North American and European tour promoting
147-531: A 'freshman cypher' alongside Lil Uzi Vert , Lil Yachty , 21 Savage , and Kodak Black . As of June 2024, this cypher has received over 221 million YouTube views, by far the most for the XXL channel. On May 13, 2017, Curry uploaded a track titled "Hate Government [demo]" to his SoundCloud account. In the weeks that followed, he released two more demos for songs titled "Equalizer [demo]" and "Zeltron 6 Billion" featuring Lil Ugly Mane . After these releases as well as
196-439: A 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club , Curry disclosed that he was molested by an unnamed older man during his childhood. On September 24, 2011, Curry released his first mixtape, titled King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 . The whole project that Curry posted was later included on SpaceGhostPurrp 's page, which prompted the birth of Denzel's music career. Following the release of Curry's first mixtape, Curry became
245-499: A North American and European tour with special guests Kenny Mason, Mike Dimes, Redveil , and PlayThatBoiZay. On February 24, another single—"Zatoichi" featuring Slowthai, titled after the Japanese fictional character —was released, also accompanied by a music video directed by Villagomez. On March 18, Curry revealed the album was to be released on March 25. On March 21, a third single—"Troubles" featuring T-Pain—was released, along with
294-483: A ceasefire in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip . In January 2021, Curry discovered that he is related to St. Louis rapper Smino through the discovery of a shared uncle. Studio albums Zacari Zacari Moses Pacaldo I (born April 8, 1994), known mononymously as Zacari , is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He
343-440: A desert alone while an appropriate instrumental plays, before displaying a list of people who are featured or have worked on the album, among them: T-Pain , Rico Nasty , JID , Slowthai , Thundercat , Robert Glasper , Karriem Riggins , and Dot da Genius . On January 24, the single "Walkin" was released, along with a similarly Western- and sci-fi -inspired music video directed by Adrian Villagomez. That same day, Curry announced
392-410: A human being. I have feelings." He intended for the album to go in an entirely different direction from his previous works, calling it "the end of an era" and telling fans they were not going to "hear the same type of Denzel anymore". Curry announced the album on January 5, 2022, by sharing a " Western -style" teaser trailer to his official YouTube channel. The short trailer depicts Curry walking through
441-514: A man claiming that Johnson was beating two dogs with a metal pipe. Officers then employed physical force, pepper spray , and a taser in an attempt to restrain Johnson. He succumbed to his wounds, and he ultimately died after being transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital . His family argued that the incident was a case of police brutality . Curry has spoken about Johnson's death and police brutality in interviews and in his music. One example of this
490-569: A member of SpaceGhostPurrp's hip hop group, Raider Klan . In 2012, he released his second mixtape, titled King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996 , which caught the attention of fellow American rapper Earl Sweatshirt and other members of Odd Future . Curry's third mixtape, titled Strictly for My R.V.I.D.X.R.Z. , was released after the death of Trayvon Martin , who also lived in Carol City and went to
539-596: A music school in Los Angeles , California . Zacari was featured on various Top Dawg Entertainment albums such as The Sun's Tirade , Do What Thou Wilt. , Damn , and Black Panther: The Album . Top Dawg announced the signing of Zacari in January 2019, when he released his first single on the label "Don't Trip". His debut EP Run Wild Run Free was released on March 15, 2019. On April 21, 2020, as part of Top Dawg's Fan Appreciation Week, Zacari released
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#1732793084650588-720: A music video directed by Cole Bennett . On June 29, 2022, Curry performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert . On July 21, he performed "Walkin" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . On September 30, 2022, Curry released Melt My Eyez See Your Future (The Extended Edition). The album features reimagined versions of songs from the original album with live instrumentation performed by the Cold Blooded Soul Band, which performed with Curry on his NPR Tiny Desk Concert and The Tonight Show performance. On May 5, 2023, Curry released his live project Live At Electric Lady, which featured new versions of Melt My Eyez songs and
637-452: A music video starring the two. The album was released on March 25, 2022. On June 1, 2022, a remix of "Walkin" featuring Key Glock , was released as the first single for the extended version of the album. On September 30, 2022, the extended edition was released featuring 10 new songs recorded by Curry and the Cold Blooded Soul Band, as well as two previously unreleased songs— "Larger Than Life" and "Chrome Hearts" (featuring Zacari ). The album
686-550: A nationwide tour titled "Grey Day Tour", which was created by the hip-hop duo $ uicideboy$ . The tour was completed almost a month later on August 23, 2019. On January 6, 2020, Curry released a project titled 13lood 1n + 13lood Out , featuring fellow rappers Ghostemane , Xavier Wulf, ZillaKami and AK of The Underachievers . The project was initially announced in November 2018. On February 7, 2020, Curry released Unlocked , an EP collaboration with Kenny Beats . The release
735-461: A positive review, Pitchfork ' s Steven Kearse said, "On Melt My Eyez See Your Future , Curry again retools his sound, trading livewire energy for introspection and vulnerability. The album lacks the vividness of his past releases, but its concept offers a glimpse into Curry's roving mind". Melt My Eyez See Your Future debuted at number 51 on the US Billboard 200 , and number 23 on
784-452: A rendition of Erykah Badu 's "Didn't Cha Know" with Bilal . In May 2024, Curry announced a new project by debuting a photo of cassette tape on his social media. In June, Curry announced the project was titled King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 and debuted the lead single "Hot One" featuring TiaCorine & ASAP Ferg . The album is a sequel to Curry's third mixtape King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996 (2012) and
833-469: A sampler to Ta13oo , and no release date for the album was announced. On February 28, 2018, he appeared on the song "Kristi," by artist ASAP Ferg , which also featured IDK . It was first performed live in Austin, TX on March 10, during their collaborative tour. On March 16, 2018, he uploaded the song "Uh Huh," once again featuring IDK , onto his official YouTube channel. On April 2, 2018, Curry released
882-623: A series of cryptic posts on social media (seemingly portraying another alter ego called Zeltron), he released an EP titled 13 on June 25, 2017. All of the demo tracks were included on the EP as well as two other new songs. On August 18, 2017, Curry released another song called "Skywalker." Later that year, on September 22, a remastered version of 32 Zel was released, including a remix of "Ultimate" featuring Juicy J . Since he started releasing demos for songs on 13 , Curry made several mentions of his third studio album titled, Ta13oo . 13 serves as
931-526: Is best known for his aggressive, raw sound, "gritty" lyricism, and high-energy music, but also praised for his versatility. He has been acknowledged as a figure who "helped pioneer" SoundCloud rap and called "an artist who pushes the boundaries of [hip hop]". On February 27, 2014, Curry's brother, Treon "Tree" Johnson, died as a result of complications after being tased by the police in Hialeah, Florida . Officers responded to an emergency call made by
980-478: Is best known for his guest appearance on American rapper and Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate Kendrick Lamar 's 2017 single " Love ", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 . His debut extended play (EP), Run Wild Run Free , was released by the label on March 15, 2019. Pacaldo was raised by a highly musical family. His mother, Ede, a former drummer for rock bands, taught Pacaldo how to play
1029-584: Is the lyric "Cops killing' blacks when the whites do the most," in his song "The Last." He has also inculcated upon this theme in his cover of " Bulls on Parade " by Rage Against the Machine . In 2022, Curry signed onto the Musicians For Palestine pledge, refusing to perform in Israel following the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis . In November 2023, Curry signed an open letter calling for
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#17327930846501078-586: The Billboard 200 chart, respectively, with Melt My Eyez returning at number 17 after the release of an extended edition. Two years later, Curry announced King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2 which released on July 19, 2024. All of Curry's projects have garnered significant critical acclaim. Reviewers most often praise his aggressive rapping style, energetic performance, lyrical abilities, and artistic versatility. He has been credited as one of
1127-605: The Dollars trilogy , The Mandalorian , Return of the Jedi , Sanjuro , Yojimbo , Seven Samurai , and Ran . It is said to be his most mature body of work yet. He talked about retiring some of his past alter egos in favor of embracing his true personality and feelings through the music: "I'm not trying to be Zeltron. I'm not trying to be Aquarius Killa. I'm not trying to be Raven Miyagi. I'm not trying to be any of those personalities or any of those people. I'm Denzel. I'm
1176-559: The Top R&;B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Notes Sample credits Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida , Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape , King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 , in 2011, which was influenced by underground Florida rapper SpaceGhostPurrp . The mixtape
1225-646: The Butcher among others. In June 2021, Curry appeared on FX Network's The Choe Show , hosted by David Choe . Curry was featured on the September 2021 song "Bleach", released on rapper ZillaKami 's debut album, DOG BOY . Curry collaborated on the track "Dynasties and Dystopia" from the Netflix series Arcane , alongside Gizzle and Bren Joy. On January 5, 2022, the official trailer for Curry's fifth studio album, titled Melt My Eyez See Your Future ,
1274-610: The Mischievous South Tour with guests Kenny Mason , 454, and Clip, planned for 2025. Curry's music is influenced by a variety of artists, genres, and art forms. Some of his greatest sources of inspiration are anime , video games , and martial arts . Some musicians who have been credited with inspiring Curry include MF Doom , André 3000 , DMX , Kanye West , the Roots , Kid Cudi , Nirvana , and Trick Daddy , as well as Southern hip hop in general. Curry
1323-404: The album (with guest acts Kenny Mason , Mike Dimes, Redveil , and PlayThatBoiZay) was announced. On February 24, Curry released another single from the upcoming album, "Zatoichi" featuring Slowthai. It was accompanied by a music video also directed by Adrian Villagomez. On March 18, Curry announced the album would be released on March 25. On March 21, a third single, "Troubles" featuring T-Pain,
1372-520: The album for HipHopDX , Ben Brutocao stated, "It's not an ambitious but heavy-handed declaration of truth ( Ta13oo ), nor is it an all-encompassing love letter to his home state ( Zuu ). It's just a rap album, albeit a very good one, and it shows just how dynamic and forceful Denzel Curry can be when he releases himself from the poisonous burden of perfection". Kerrang! critic Emma Wilkes said, "While this record isn't going to lure rock purists out of their dens, it has greater ambitions in mind, and
1421-578: The album's acts, as "Sumo" represents Light , "Clout Cobain" represents Gray , and "Percs" represents Dark , which come together cohesively to form Ta13oo . On February 14, 2019, Curry performed a cover of " Bulls on Parade " by Rage Against the Machine on the Australian radio station Triple J as part of Like a Version , which was met with widespread acclaim. His cover went on to place 5th on that year's Triple J Hottest 100 countdown. On May 8, 2019, Curry released " Ricky ", his first single since
1470-483: The album, saying, " Melt My Eyez See Your Future is a profound exploration of the state of the world and Curry himself. He works with a diverse set of producers and collaborators to transform his sound and incorporates the aesthetics of Westerns and the samurai films that inspired them to disclose his inner feelings and personality". Blaise Radley of Dork said, "Taken as a whole, this is the sort of cohesive artistic statement he's been aching to make for years". Reviewing
1519-411: The amount it achieves in the space that it does is staggering. For any artist of any genre, this is the textbook for innovation". Writing for The Line of Best Fit , Steven Loftin stated, "An exploration of his wildest ideas and most focused inner thoughts, Melt My Eyez See Your Future comes together like a cataclysmic showing of everything he's learned, and most importantly, he's embracing himself". In
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1568-798: The critical consensus. Robin Murray of Clash described the album as a "breathless, breath-taking experience" and awarded it a score of nine out of ten. Kyann-Sian Williams of NME gave it five out of five stars, calling Curry "the Renaissance man of Southern hip-hop " and praising his ability to "[provide] a priceless sense of self-discovery as he explores his countless facets." David Crone of AllMusic applauded Curry's "reflections on past misdoings [...] while his verses are packed with slick wordplay." Alisdair Grice of DIY said, "It feels like an album not caught in time, instead spanning and encompassing it". Alex Nguyen from Beats Per Minute enjoyed
1617-574: The first quarter of my life. Especially as a Black man in America". Curry's song featuring PlayThatBoiZay, "Let It All Hang Out", was included in Elvis —a biographical movie about Elvis Presley that premiered in June 2022—as well as on the movie's soundtrack album . On June 24, 2022, a collaboration between Dot da Genius , JID , Curry, and Kid Cudi , titled " Talk About Me ", was released, along with
1666-482: The guitar, and his father, Moses, passed down his love of soul , blues , and jazz music. He was enrolled in a school for performing arts by age eight and began learning guitar, followed by drums, saxophone, and keyboards. Pacaldo had a stint in Alaska where he worked for the summer after graduating high school. After finishing high school, he worked seasonally for three years at an Alaska national park, and enrolled in
1715-476: The lead single off of Ta13oo titled " Sumo " on Zane Lowe 's Beats 1 radio show. On May 24, 2018, Curry released the second single off the album titled, " Percs ". Curry then released the third single titled, " Clout Cobain ", on July 13, 2018, and announced that his album Ta13oo , would be released in three acts: The first act, Light , was released on July 25, followed by Gray on July 26, and Dark on July 27. Each previously released single represents one of
1764-752: The pioneers of the SoundCloud rap genre. Denzel Rae Don Curry was born on February 16, 1995, in the Carol City neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida . Curry started down an artist's path with early poetic ambitions in elementary school before he began rapping in the sixth grade. His time was spent at a local Boys & Girls Clubs of America chapter where he challenged others to rap battles. He attended Miami's Design and Architecture High School for two years before being expelled. Curry then attended Miami Carol City Senior High School , where he started working on Nostalgic 64 while still attending class. In
1813-601: The release of Ta13oo . The song is titled after his father, whom the song is inspired by. On May 22, 2019, Curry released a second single titled "Speedboat" and announced the release of his next album Zuu for May 31, 2019. On July 15, 2019, Curry made his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , performing a medley of "Ricky" and "Wish" from his album Zuu . He also revealed that he had cut his signature dreadlocks . On July 24, 2019, Curry joined artists such as Germ, City Morgue , Trash Talk , Shoreline Mafia , Night Lovell , Pouya , and Turnstile on
1862-457: The same high school as Denzel Curry. His style of rap and the name of the record were heavily inspired by Tupac Shakur . In late 2012, Curry met his manager Mark Maturah, and under his guidance, released his first studio single, "Dark & Violent", featuring J. K. The Reaper and Nell, to SoundCloud . In 2011, a mixtape named "Curry Wuz Here" surfaced on YouTube , and the release date was claimed to be January 16, 2011. The group Raider Klan
1911-631: Was accompanied with an animated short film. In August 2020, Curry was featured on the soundtrack to the Madden NFL 21 game, on the song "Lemonade", with singer Yungblud . In October 2020, Curry was featured on $ NOT 's track "Sangria". On March 5, 2021, Curry released Unlocked 1.5 , a remix of his previous collaboration with Kenny Beats . The remix album features new production from Robert Glasper , The Alchemist , Georgia Anne Muldrow , Sango , Jay Versace , Godmode, and Charlie Heat , as well as new features from Smino , Joey Bada$ $ , and Benny
1960-502: Was disbanded, which led to Curry deciding to embark on his solo rap career. On September 3, 2013, Curry released his debut full-length album, titled Nostalgic 64 . The album features guest appearances from JK the Reaper, Lil Ugly Mane , Mike G , Nell, Robb Bank$ , Stephen A. Clark, and Yung Simmie , among others. In 2014, Curry was featured on Deniro Farrar 's track, called "Bow Down" (included from Farrar's Rebirth EP) and Curry
2009-560: Was featured on Dillon Cooper's track, called "Eyes of the World" (included from Cooper's X:XX mixtape). Curry himself has stated that he was heavily inspired by Outkast 's record, Aquemini, saying he drew the cover for Nostalgic 64 while listening to the record. He also was inspired by Goodie Mob and CeeLo Green , and other southern music. On June 9, 2015, Curry released his first double EP, 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms , which contained his breakout single " Ultimate ". The song went viral , and
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2058-682: Was later featured on SpaceGhostPurrp's social media , giving Curry attention in the local music scene and resulting in him joining the former's hip-hop collective Raider Klan . Curry left Raider Klan in 2013, releasing his debut studio album, Nostalgic 64 , in September of that year, while still in high school. He has since released three extended plays : 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms in 2015, 13 in 2017, and Unlocked (a collaboration with Kenny Beats ) in 2020, and four studio albums: Imperial in 2016, Ta13oo in 2018, Zuu in 2019, and Melt My Eyez See Your Future in 2022. Ta13oo , Zuu , and Melt My Eyez debuted at numbers 28, 32, and 51 on
2107-545: Was played over Bottle Flip videos among others. It has amassed over 200 million streams on Spotify and earned 65 million views on YouTube. His first release in 2016 was the single "Flying Nimbus". His second full-length album, titled Imperial , was released on March 9, 2016, then re-released later on Spotify as the deluxe version on October 14, 2016. In June 2016, Curry appeared in XXL magazine as part of their 2016 Freshmen Class . As part of this appearance, Curry performed
2156-552: Was preceded by the singles " Walkin ", "Zatoichi", and "Troubles". The album received widespread acclaim from critics, with reviewers praising Curry's lyrical abilities and the album's production. Denzel Curry first began envisioning the album's themes in 2018, and began working on it after the completion of his 2019 album, Zuu . In a May 2020 interview with XXL , he shared his plans to retire from making music after releasing three more full-length bodies of work. His first collaboration extended play with Kenny Beats , Unlocked ,
2205-501: Was promoted with a livestream concert: Melt My Eyez: Live From the Komodo City Cafe, on September 29. Melt My Eyez See Your Future was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic , which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on eight reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.3 out of 10, based on their assessment of
2254-560: Was released along with a music video. The album was released on March 25, 2022. It debuted at number 51 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number 23 on the Billboard Top R&;B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Curry recorded a song featuring rapper Reason , "1st Quarter", as a contribution to Apple Music 's "collection of exclusively commissioned new songs from Black creatives", titled Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs . He commented: "It's an accomplishment to make it through
2303-506: Was released on February 7, 2020, followed by a remixed version of the EP, titled Unlocked 1.5 , on March 5, 2021. He revealed the album title in a November 2021 interview with Las Vegas Weekly . Melt My Eyez is a metaphor for people's tendency to avoid facing difficult topics in day-to-day life, while See Your Future is motivation for moving on by putting one's past behind and focusing on what's yet to come. The album's themes were also inspired by several classic works of cinema, including
2352-544: Was released on July 19, 2024. The song "Black Flag Freestyle" was subsequently released on June 21, 2024, as the second single. On October 30, Curry announced the mixtape would be re-released on November 15 as an album simply titled King of the Mischievous South with five additional tracks. He also released the single "Still in the Paint" featuring Lazer Dim 700 and Bktherula that day. On November 14, he released another single, "Got Me Geeked". On November 19, he announced
2401-420: Was uploaded to his YouTube channel. It was revealed that the album would contain guest appearances from artists such as T-Pain , 6lack , Slowthai , Rico Nasty , J.I.D , and Thundercat , among others. Curry said the project would feature a new, more mature sound, different from his previous works: "Y'all are not going to hear the same type of Denzel anymore." On January 24, a single titled "Walkin", along with
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