ZelooperZ is a 32 year old MC from Detroit, Michigan notable for being a member of the Bruiser Brigade collective. Since the early 2010s, he’s come a long way from his solo debut Bothic by artistically evolving on both Valley of Life & Van Gogh’s Left Ear respectively. In preparation for Bruiser Wolf’s upcoming 4th album Made by Dope produced by Harry Fraud next month & Danny Brown’s upcoming 7th album Stardust the month after, Dilip & ZelooperZ are reuniting for the latter’s 12th LP.
The drumless chipmunk soul intro “1st Instrument” talks about having cheese in collateral amounts & life being an uphill battle for him whereas the early favorite “Mona Lisa Left Eye” is packed with references to some of his influences. “Bebe Kids” works in some quirky synthesizers expressing resentment towards his early years due to the pain he endured while “Push Me Around” featuring Zack Fox angrily talks about no one fucking with them.
“Hypnagogia” hooks up an interesting string sample within the first 30 seconds & a switchup during the final 30 seconds referencing WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger while “NDA” featuring Paris Texas makes for my favorite guest appearance on the entire album talking about them not coming to fuck around. “Fuck Cigarettes” expresses his dislike for the popular type of tobacco & I agree because weed is far better prior to a soulful diss towards the “Broke Ass Hoes”.
Starting the 2nd half, “Opposite Sex” works in some heavy horns to talk about the difficulty of getting rest because of the run he’s been on while “Describe” gives off a cloudier trap vibe smoothly telling us the kind of guy he is for the woman of his dreams. “I Mac” experiments with synthwave and atmospheric drum & bass continuing to tackle themes of love while “Shrooms” talks about the consumption of psilocybin.
“Take Me I’m Drugs” heavily samples more strings to kick off the final leg of Dali Ain’t Dead carrying over the topic of drug use from the previous track while “Lebanon James” boisterously talks about going crazier than the greatest talk show host of all-time Eric André of The Eric André Show fire to on the Discovery Global division Cartoon Network owned [adult swim]. “Art of Seduction” goes for a smoother approach to master the idea of temptation & “Play with Your Pride” ends the LP by advising not to mess with one’s self-esteem.
Only less than 2 months away from his set at the 11th annual Camp Flog Gnaw, we get a look at ZelooperZ’ life after becoming sober last summer over the course of the 36 minutes that Dali Ain’t Dead has to offer & it. Dilip’s production has grown a lot in the past 5 years blending elements of experimental hip hop, trap, cloud rap & drumless to back the abstract lyricism inspired by this newfound perspective since getting clean.
Score: 9/10