Florida rapper PlayThatBoiZay has recently released his new album NOCTURNAL, and whilst it can be slightly immature at points, it is a giant step in the right direction for the young rapper.
PlayThatBoiZay is very new to the music scene, his first single being released as recently as 2018. That being said, he has managed to make a name for himself very quickly, most notably with his feature on fellow Miami native Denzel Curry’s track, ‘P.A.T’, earlier this year. With a hard hitting, almost scream-like delivery, heavily reminding me of rappers like the late XXXtentacion and a lot of cloud rap that has emerged in the last fews years, the album is full-on sonic assault for a good 80% of the 16 minute runtime, and whilst that can get tedious later on in the track listing, like on the track ‘IONEVENRAP’, when it is more pulled back like on the track ‘POISON KLAN’, it is a lot more effective.
Dark tone.
This album is dark. The instrumentals are at times spooky, with, in almost every track, a very distorted drum track, adding to that in your face attitude that is a constant in Zay’s music. Lyrically as well, this album has a much more solidified narrative than Zay’s previous music, opting for subjects of death, poison and other deadly things that add to the halloween-esque environment Zay tries to create, which is more interesting than the 2 dimensional, braggadocious subjects Zay often opts for. Whilst that is still very prevalent, and at times can get almost childish, He is definitely taking the rights steps in fleshing out the ideas he is trying to portray with his lyrics and tone.
Favourite track.
My favourite track on this album is easily ‘POISON KLAN’. With its extremely ambient, almost distant instrumental, it instantly presents itself as the most mature song on the album. This song features verses from rappers Denzel Curry and Anonymuz, helping to elevate the professional sense of the song even further. Both features are wonderful, fitting the dark tone of the album, but both keeping their own styles. I particularly am a fan of Denzel’s verse. His flow is perfect for the track, and his signature delivery is a personal favourite of mine. Anonymuz sits in the same camp as Denzel, having great flow and delivery during his verse. The problem with having such higher level features on a track like this is it can detract from the host’s verses and performance, and starting with a verse from Denzel sadly does this (also thumbs up to the ‘infected version’ of this song, which is the same track but slowed and more with more reverb. It becomes. Even. Creepier). As a track purely presented by Zay, I would have to say the track ‘HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY’ is my favourite. Zay’s screaming delivery that is prevalent on many of the other tracks is toned back, giving more of a distant and aggressive delivery, as the childishness from the more cloud rap inspired songs like ‘IONEVENRAP’ disappears.
Least favourite track.
My least favourite track on the album is ‘IONEVENRAP’. I enjoy the instrumental, continuing the horror vibe that is present throughout, and I like some of Zay’s delivery, namely the intro. Apart from that, this song is the most immature on the album, in its intense similarities to a lot of cloud rap, with the silly ad-libs (‘ay’ and ‘yuh’ being repeated over and over) and less refined delivery from Zay. It becomes slightly sloppy as the track goes on. I also did not enjoy the verse from DrownMili at all. His verse lacked punch, and his delivery had too many similarities to that of Playboi Carti, who’s baby voice delivery I find almost unbearable.
The takeaway.
All in all, I think this is a really positive step for PlayThatBoiZay. His work has improved on almost all fronts, having better flows, instrumentals and an interesting narrative and tone that stays consistent for most of the album. This album shines the best when Zay ditches his at times more immature, cloud rap sensibilities, and focuses on making hard-hitting, eery bangers. If Zay can continue to create tracks like ‘POISON KLAN’, he has a good chance to sky rocket as an artist. I do, however believe he needs to shed the more cloud rap characteristics that seem to, at times, anchor his development as an artist.
NOCTURNAL by PlayThatBoiZay – strong 6 to light 7/10.
The album on spotify – https://open.spotify.com/album/46zJNk1a1m0Gz7WqCGdxyN?si=Fr-db7vtKhtoTQW1wthw
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