Denzel Curry teamed up with popular producer Kenny Beats to release a completely unexpected album, UNLOCKED, on Friday, February 7th.
The album came as a shock to fans seeing as Curry released his previous album, ZUU, just under a year ago. Curry decided to put a more creative spin on UNLOCKED by making it an all visual album.
The experience of listening to each song is also accompanied by a mini-movie that depicts Curry and Beats as cartoon characters who are trapped in the digital world until they recover an audio file that will set them free.
At its core, the album is filled with interesting beats and clever lyrics, but they come second to the visuals that were created. It’s hard to focus on the quality of the music because it is intermingled with the voice acting of Curry and Beats. The songs themselves are done well but would have made much more of an impact if the distraction of the storyline was not a factor.
It seems that the pair purposefully compiled it to more-so resemble a mixtape than an organized album. It’s made difficult to follow along with the flow of the album because it all seems to blend into one long song. Curry embodies the personalities of a few popular rappers including the famous DMX on the song, DIET_.
The entire album lasts for just under 17 minutes, so it’s a quick listen and an easy digest. Although, it is a bit scrambled it’s redeemed by the fact that it was made in only 24 hours. Considering the attention to detail, it’s impressive that the album still felt complete.
