Music Review written for a student run newspaper.

1. UNLOCKED Review:
As of late, the hip hop scene has been a wacky one. Many of albums that have come out
this year so far, have left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. I needed an album to really
surprise and impress me if I was to make it out of this semester with a new playlist full of heat.
Little did I suspect that it wouldn’t be an album that would blow me away, but an EP, named
UNLOCKED. UNLOCKED is a short and sweet 8 track collaborative EP between rapper Denzel
Curry and producer Kenny Beats.
Denzel Curry is a Florida rapper/MC that has been making waves in the hip hop scene for
years, with projects such as Imperial and TA1300 (my personal favorite in his catalog), and even
before that with EPs, like Planet Shrooms, 13, and 32 Zel (which had his breakout hit,
“Ultimate”). His sound, rapping, technical abilities, flow and most of all, his energy have kept
me hooked, and on the edge of my seat for a while now. Denzel’s sound is something else that
has held my attention, what with the grimy and gritty instrumentals that are all across his
discography. However, I wondered where he would go from his most recent project, “ZUU”.
This is where his friend, Kenny Beats, enters the picture. Kenny is a creative and talented
producer that has already started to leave his mark in the industry, with collaborative projects
alongside rappers such as Rico Nasty. The duo previously linked for an episode of “The Cave”, a
YouTube show hosted by Kenny where he brings rappers into his studio, makes a beat, and has
them freestyle to it. From that point on, it was clear something more would come from that
episode, it was only a matter of when.
Flash forward to now, and we have UNLOCKED, a 17 minute project that has already
worked its way into some of my favorite music in 2020 thus far. The instrumentals on this record
are some of Kenny’s most layered, complex and pleasing to the ear he has yet. The whole thing

2. has a boom bap feel to it, but revamped in a way only imaginable to someone like Kenny.
Lyrically, this album isn’t saying anything prolific as far as subject matter, like he did on
TA1300, but that doesn’t mean the bars are weak, there are plenty of quotable lines here. This is
even more impressive with the knowledge that Denzel freestyled everything on this album, all
coming off the top of his head in the studio.
The song “DIET_” has these heavy and hard hitting drums that compliment Denzel’s
aggressive delivery on it, reaching a peak in the middle of the song where Denzel effortlessly
transitions his aggressive voice and tone to an 11 mid verse. Another song that has been on
repeat, is the song “Cosmic.m4a”, which is similar in its tone to “DIET_”, but is a little more
aethereal with the instrumental behind it. There really wasn’t a song here I didn’t like, but some
were definitely more entertaining then others. The song “So.Incredible.pkg” has a hook that I am
not fond of at all. “Take_it_Back_v2” is a really fun listen, but nothing I will return to beyond
my time reviewing this record.
Overall, this EP has left me wanting more, has with interludes taken out, we really only
have 6 tracks here. If this duo were to take their time with a whole album, perhaps it could have
even been an instant classic. But what we did get here was awesome none the less, and hope we
hear more from these two in the future.