New emerging hip hop artist CH/ZZY based in Chicago, US, gets a damn fierce and creatively striking kick start to his musical career at 40 years old, with his debut album ‘ Late start’, dropped on the 3rd of March. Made up of 15 high-quality production songs, you will find every mood and every vibe in this album, all packaged into one unique artistic print that belongs to CH/ZZY. Coming from a personal place and after some really big pains in his life, this album started as a distraction from CH/ZZY’s father who was battling a recurrence of cancer back in 2021. This album took over 8 months for him to vocalize, produce and edit, in his home studio. CH/ZZY is inspired by artists like Nas, J. Cole, Pac, Slick Rick, and Cool J.
You need to brace yourselves with this album because it’s crazy good. With this much work, vulnerability, and a high musical skill set, CH/ZZY was able to bring to life an exceptional album. It’s a collection of reflections, stories, and emotions. It’s a human album made into a potential hit album. The number of hip-hop soundscapes and the small introduction of blues and jazz sounds created this very unique and coherent-sounding persona to the album. You’ll find so much to discover and enjoy, with no sense of boredom whatsoever from the rapping to the lyrics and every note on the beat.
The overall sound of the album is badass, immensely raw, and extremely dynamic in sound. You’ll be hit with some cool and confident energy like never before. The way these tracks were put together with CH/ZZY’s style kind of reminds us a little of Eminem which is just surreal. The musical arrangement is creative and high in quality. There are possibly most of the instruments and sound effects you could think of, that are not mellow or magical in feelings. Everything here is raw and real, on the grounds of earth. Most of the album’s page is slow to medium with very fast bar spitting that is interchangeable. There is of course so much darkness in the tracks lyrically and aesthetically within this hip-hop soundscape. You’ve got hardcore basslines, daunting and challenging drum sets, minimal cymbals, sad piano, backing emotive violins and a lot of saxophones and jazz sounds that give the music a touch of sophistication, completing the album a polished and special look. You’ve also got some societal tracks with sounds like a country-style electric guitar, jungle percussions, sitar sounds, and oriental sounds. You could say this album is just texture over the texture in such a brilliant way. You’ve also got some chill and smooth vibes. There are notable sound effects used like screaming, clock ticking, distortions, explosive sounds, and lots of orchestra female vocals. Alongside that, there are also lots of funny voice snippets or conversation snippets at the beginning of the songs. The rapping and vocals are powerful, straightforward, and sometimes very playful. This album is a must-listen type and you have to lay your ears on it as soon as possible.