Denzel Curry: Melt My Eyez See Your Future [LOMA VISTA]

Why you'll love it

This Loma Vista LP gathers Curry's most personal album on one disc. It was met with widespread acclaim, and its guest list runs from Robert Glasper and Thundercat to JID, Rico Nasty and 6lack.

This edition

• Limited edition
• Original album artwork

About the album

Denzel Curry spent years rapping as alter egos, and on this album he retired the lot. He told interviewers he was done being Zeltron or Aquarius Killa and simply wanted to be Denzel, a person with feelings, and he called the record the end of an era. The title is a metaphor: melt the eyes that avoid hard subjects, then look ahead to what's coming.

He announced it with a Western-style trailer, and the cinema runs deep: the Dollars trilogy, Star Wars and Kurosawa's samurai films all shaped it. "Walkin" is the slow-burning lead single, "Zatoichi" with slowthai is named after the blind swordsman, and "Troubles" pairs him with T-Pain. Robert Glasper's keys, JID and Rico Nasty's verses, and production from Kenny Beats, JPEGMafia, Thundercat and FnZ give it a jazzy, soulful backbone. Saul Williams, Buzzy Lee, 6lack and 454 round out the guests, with Karriem Riggins and Dot da Genius among the collaborators.

Critics praised the lyrics and the production in equal measure. Two of the song titles come straight from samurai films, so if anyone asks, playing this counts as film school homework.

Also at Kops: more Denzel Curry on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On PH / Loma Vista (cat# LVR02502), the 2022 album.