This is the second extended performance from Detroit, Michigan host ZelooperZ. As a member of the group Bruiser Brigade and 1/2 of ZGTO, he has spent the past 15 years building a solo catalog consisting of a dozen LPs as well as another EP and several mixtapes. My personal favorites are the Black Noi$e-produced Dyn-o-mite, and most recently ZelooperZ’s latest full-length Dalí Ain’t Dead, nine months after digging up all 11 tracks from Pin Breakers and putting them exclusively on his Bandcamp.
“Listen” begins with a 90-second intro similar to Blake Griffin, with some samples in the background talking about never dropping the ball, while “Pain T Wayne” skips over a psychedelic trap beat, saying he reminds himself that T-Pain and shit ain’t gonna change. “Beautician” adopts a jazzier boom-bap vibe and talks about working in any weather, while “Mason’s Dispatch” feels like a minute and a half jam session.
My least favorite song is probably “The Music”, mainly because it sounds underdeveloped and is so short that it seems pointless to have it here, while “Nostradamus” featuring Danny Brown makes up for it, giving us a booming bap song that’s perfect for Dyn-o-mite. “My Momma” continues to express his gratitude to his mother in the second half of the EP, while “River Rogue” continues to chop down more samples and talk about this shit.
“Baby Bruisin'” near the end of “Pin Breakers” mixes in some strings and hi-hats and discusses how long it’s been since he took a shit, while “Sailing Seas” expands on this, recalling the days when he used to eat a bunch of junk mail and sleep in the studio while playing the piano. The closing track, “Ah Ha Ah Ha,” ends the EP fondly, recalling the time when he couldn’t walk on the hood because a bounty was placed on his stepfather’s head.
Considering “Pin Breakers” was recorded with Dyn-o-mite around 2019, I’m not surprised that these previously unreleased tracks should appear on that album, as Zelooperz’s largely abstract lyrics combined with Black Noi$e’s experimental jazz production are both key factors in making Dyn-o-mite so special to me, even if it’s a somewhat incomplete idea.
Score: 8/10
