Check his history: Zilla Rocca’s been a beast. In just 16 bars, no other rapper could seamlessly namedrop the futility of the Seattle Pilots, Neruda, Hemingway’s love of daiquiris, Medellin, Omega 3’s, chicken nuggets, and Southern Comfort while flipping the beat to Tony Stark’s “Fish.” When the Wrecking Crew co-founder first floated the idea of […]

All hail the twin Gods of super 8 and synesthesia. Zilla Rocca and Has-Lo mix like yellow and brown to form gold (so the technicolor gods tell me). As I described it earlier, this song is charcoal hands. Purple ties and purple tapes. ZR and Has going crayola, a fresh coat for a tired blend. […]

Charcoal hands. Purple ties and purple tapes. ZR and Has going crayola, a fresh coat for a tired blend. Indirect homage to Ice-T and straightforward pounds to Edan and Elzhi. Kids raised on Wu-Tang slang slashing in opal and in the color of money. Biggie referenced in mustard spread. Egg shell tiles. Nostalgia stashed in […]

Has any relatively obscure rap song had a better second life than “Broken Language?” Forget Red and Meth’s 08 version, a decade and a half later, the stalagmite set remains enthralled by Smooth Da Hustler’s & Trigger Tha Gambler’s Tunnel banger. From Action Bronson’s “Moonstruck” to Zilla Rocca, Has-Lo, and Curly Castro’s “The Heat” (American […]

Has-Lo strolling past the cemetery gates to commune with the tombstones and ancestral spirits. Number one among the ghosts channeled is Dennis Coles. This is how you engender Wu-Tang comparisons without ripping off the Clan a decade late. Select a vaguely obscure soul loop and kick melancholy meditative rips while using the phrase “old earth.” […]

Has-Lo “Utero” from Mello Music Group on Vimeo. Through the first quarter, Has-Lo is the front runner for the Roc Marciano Award for Chain Swinging, Bell-Ringing, East Coasted, Blunts from Bodegas rap. If there’s a surfeit of adjectives in that last sentence, credit the density of Has’ writing. Easy listening this is not. In Case […]