Zachg

Zachg is a guy that exudes swag. With ties to M???? and Green Ova as well as founding Rad Reef, you'd think he was busy enough; but you'd be wrong. Earlier this week Zachg released his sixteenth project from this year alone. Raindancin (in the Pussy) sounds like a record that would be much more misogynistic than it actually turns out to be. The album actually focuses more on Zachg's attempts at understanding women and the societal pressures of being a male in the US today, where we're expected to be the more assertive of the sexes and often the less expressive. It's a contemplative, well thought out record and Zachg makes sure not to take himself too seriously (as evidenced by that beautiful cover art above) without forgetting that the nature of song is to express. - Secret Decoder

Zachg is a guy that exudes swag. With ties to M???? and Green Ova as well as founding Rad Reef, you'd think he was busy enough; but you'd be wrong. Earlier this week Zachg released his sixteenth project from this year alone. Raindancin (in the Pussy) sounds like a record that would be much more misogynistic than it actually turns out to be. The album actually focuses more on Zachg's attempts at understanding women and the societal pressures of being a male in the US today, where we're expected to be the more assertive of the sexes and often the less expressive. It's a contemplative, well thought out record and Zachg makes sure not to take himself too seriously (as evidenced by that beautiful cover art above) without forgetting that the nature of song is to express. - Secret Decoder

On cLOUDLIFE's opening track "Chap 3," Squadda B briefly croons Jim Jones' hook for Cam'ron's "The Dopeman," and the song's whole conceit is pretty much cribbed from Juelz Santana's endlessly quotable, OCD playa verse from "Hey Ma" (“Get in the car, don't touch nothing, sit in the car”). Presumably, this is the first time a Dipset tribute has been soundtracked by a beat from the Anticon collective, right? All four of cLOUDLIFE's songs are just as bizarre and inspired. A screwed Werner Herzog makes a creepy cameo at the end of Zachg's beat for "J Bar," and "So Whut," finds Jel merging his geeked-up, digital splatter production style with some of old school hip-hop's most stalwart vocal samples. The final song, "Take Her Shoppin," best captures Main Attrakionz's drifting, surprisingly emotive rapping, though. Tugged along by Zachg's manipulative, movie score piano and programmed drums imitating Explosions In The Sky's jazzy shuffle, Mondre M.A.N. and Squadda B turn the kind act of taking a girl out and buying her nice things, into an epic, transcendent piece of post-rock, hip-hop. It's a strangely warm, even desperate, sort of love song: "Girl, you wanna shop with me / Spend this guap with me / Blow this chop with me / I'll take you shoppin'..." cLOUDLIFE will be available for download at Rad Reef on Friday but you can stream it below, exclusively at SPIN: - SPIN

On cLOUDLIFE's opening track "Chap 3," Squadda B briefly croons Jim Jones' hook for Cam'ron's "The Dopeman," and the song's whole conceit is pretty much cribbed from Juelz Santana's endlessly quotable, OCD playa verse from "Hey Ma" (“Get in the car, don't touch nothing, sit in the car”). Presumably, this is the first time a Dipset tribute has been soundtracked by a beat from the Anticon collective, right? All four of cLOUDLIFE's songs are just as bizarre and inspired. A screwed Werner Herzog makes a creepy cameo at the end of Zachg's beat for "J Bar," and "So Whut," finds Jel merging his geeked-up, digital splatter production style with some of old school hip-hop's most stalwart vocal samples. The final song, "Take Her Shoppin," best captures Main Attrakionz's drifting, surprisingly emotive rapping, though. Tugged along by Zachg's manipulative, movie score piano and programmed drums imitating Explosions In The Sky's jazzy shuffle, Mondre M.A.N. and Squadda B turn the kind act of taking a girl out and buying her nice things, into an epic, transcendent piece of post-rock, hip-hop. It's a strangely warm, even desperate, sort of love song: "Girl, you wanna shop with me / Spend this guap with me / Blow this chop with me / I'll take you shoppin'..." cLOUDLIFE will be available for download at Rad Reef on Friday but you can stream it below, exclusively at SPIN: - SPIN

I’ll be honest, I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around some of ZachG’s music, though I do fuck with his blog posts at Mishka and I appreciate his taste in collaborators. Up top is his new video for “Peace Mettle” and below is a collaboration with Western Tink off his upcoming LP, Raindancin (in the Pussy), which will be out October 30th. - Nah Right

I’ll be honest, I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around some of ZachG’s music, though I do fuck with his blog posts at Mishka and I appreciate his taste in collaborators. Up top is his new video for “Peace Mettle” and below is a collaboration with Western Tink off his upcoming LP, Raindancin (in the Pussy), which will be out October 30th. - Nah Right