I live in between two extremes that usually never meet. Growing up in The Bronx meant that my childhood was spent waiting for a new DJ Clue tape to drop. I’d be bopping my head and singing along to DMX in my car seat as my dad drove me home from school. As I grew, my music taste did too. I experimented with weird things like Marilyn Manson and System Of A Down at a very young age. I loved the guitars and chaos and ran with that. So when an artist came along who merged those two VERY different worlds for me, I automatically worshipped them. Someone who was innovative enough to marry two cultures that live on the broadest ends of the music spectrum. That title belongs to rap group Flatbush Zombies.
They manage to break the mold of a genre. The group consists of Juice, Meech, and Eric Arc Elliot. Their sounds come out of Brooklyn, reppin' their hood hard by putting it right in their name. And if you’re born and raised in the rotten apple, your hood is your name. They have that 90’s feel that takes me back to that car seat thanks to their smooth beats and raw lyrics. Eric is responsible for a majority of their production. They don’t care about making club music or radio songs. Their art is focused on letting you know the struggle of growing up in the hood, being different, and not giving a fuck about it. And of course, drugs.
I truly give them credit for this new wave of psychedelic and horror trends flowing through hip hop lately. They’ve been having spooking beats and acid raps since the beginning of this decade. It’s now starting to catch on and drip into mainstream radio music, an example being Rihanna’s BBHMM beat. The real tipping point for me was when they sampled SOAD on their joint mixtape with The Underachievers. It was like someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You’re not the only metal head in the hood kid, we got you covered”. Lines like “my radiator hiss like my Amy Whine vinyl” shake the soul. If you know the reference all too well, that hiss means another winter in your NYC apartment has begun. Intertwining the sleeping princess Amy is just the cherry on top. Their alliteration and ability to ride one beat all together is timeless. To be three kids who self produced all their own music to a power group touring Europe and shooting in Japan is amazing. To further prove their work ethic, they don’t belong to a major label. They are self-propelled and have a cult following. If you bump the Zombies it’s because you heavily bang with their movement.
The most beautiful thing is whom they bring together with their music. No fan looks alike. Some are hood, some are suburban. Some are goth, some are skaters, while all just love hip hop. All different shades of hands are in the air at their shows. And every single mouth is singing along from front to back. The chaos on stage and off is comparable to the madness at Oz fest. Crowd surfing, mosh pits, and stage diving galore. The beauty of it all is just what anyone who relates to these words needs. From wrestling to serial killer references, its like the weird kids finally have their three wise men that came bearing more than myrrh.