Now, More Than Ever EP - Flatbush Zombies
Intro:
Flatbush Zombies are an established rap group that have been in the industry for quite a while now. Originating from Brooklyn, the crew consists of 3 artists: Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice, and Erick the Architect. I’ve always been familiar with the group throughout their careers, but I’ve only really been listening to them within the past year. They’re definitely a solid collective and it’s been about 2 years since their last group project, Vacation In Hell.
Strengths:
As expected, the group comes through with bars on this EP. The best example of their rapping ability is on the track “Dirty Elevator Music” where their flows fit well & Meechy specifically has an incredible rhyme scheme throughout his verse. The group’s flows vary across the 6 songs and the project itself is balanced out with catchy bangers & choruses. The most notable being the intro song “Herb” that is another favorite of mine.
There’s a mix of themes present on this project. On most of the harder songs, you’ll here them boasting more than the others. There’s a lot of introspection in the tracklist too as there are heavy themes of death on a lot of the songs. Whether it be showing love to fallen friends, how they want others to remember them, etc. “Quicksand” cleverly is a metaphor for falling into more negativity as you go deeper within your problems/struggles.
To add on, Flatbush Zombies are known for having some uniquely weird deliveries and cadences. Meechy to be has the best and most dynamic voice out of the group (and the current rap game). Outside of rapping, Erick is behind on all of the beats here and does a great job making really trippy melodies. I especially love the reverse sample & piano keys that blend beautifully on Dirty Elevator Music.
Weaknesses:
I honestly don’t really have any big negative takeaways from this one. I will say that some songs have deliveries that can be too strange for me at times, which has been true for me throughout all of their projects. On this one the prime example is Meechy at the very end of Quicksand with its very exaggerated outro vocals. On the contrary though, Eric’s voice/flow, at times, sounds like Joey Bada$$’s to me. It’s not too bad but it does distract me occasionally.
Overall: 8/10
Flatbush Zombies deliver another solid project with this one. I will say this EP definitely grew on me the more I listened, but it was still good off first listen. Despite not having many negative aspects, I’m not sure how long the replay value will last for me; which brings the score down slightly. I definitely recommend it though if you like their recent work and/or the Beast Coast collective in general. Thank you all for reading and you can listen to the project for yourself with the link below.
