The President of the Big Juss fan club and the only rapper to own every season of Sliders, returns with “They Call Me Castro.” Flipping a Biggie hook to good purpose, Curly Castro rides a minimalist Blueprint beat to break down conspiracy theories, his upbringing in Brooklyn, and the dawn of his radicalism. Moby Dick […]

Check his history: Zilla Rocca’s been a beast. In just 16 bars, no other rapper could seamlessly namedrop the futility of the Seattle Pilots, Neruda, Hemingway’s love of daiquiris, Medellin, Omega 3’s, chicken nuggets, and Southern Comfort while flipping the beat to Tony Stark’s “Fish.” When the Wrecking Crew co-founder first floated the idea of […]

All hail the twin Gods of super 8 and synesthesia. Zilla Rocca and Has-Lo mix like yellow and brown to form gold (so the technicolor gods tell me). As I described it earlier, this song is charcoal hands. Purple ties and purple tapes. ZR and Has going crayola, a fresh coat for a tired blend. […]

Sach O thinks that song title/credit list is a mouthful. Now here’s a curve ball. Essentially crafting a full-on Funky House jam out of Philly gunners Starkey and Curly Castro’s Marvel backpack epic “Gamma Rays,” production duo The Elementz haven’t so much made a V.I.P edit as an entirely new track. Ironically, while Starkey’s self-proclaimed […]

Has any relatively obscure rap song had a better second life than “Broken Language?” Forget Red and Meth’s 08 version, a decade and a half later, the stalagmite set remains enthralled by Smooth Da Hustler’s & Trigger Tha Gambler’s Tunnel banger. From Action Bronson’s “Moonstruck” to Zilla Rocca, Has-Lo, and Curly Castro’s “The Heat” (American […]

Skeptics questioned Freddie Gibbs’ decision to join Young Jeezy’s CTE imprint. They wondered why an established independent rapper with a modest but loyal fan base would link with a trap rapper who seemingly can’t get his album released. After all,  rappers aligning themselves with already established imprints hasn’t worked well in the past — see  […]

Photo by Liz Padova Three weeks ago, I ran through the increasing numbers of rappers finding inspiration in contemporary bass music (no Da King & I).  Through unintentional oversight, I didn’t include Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro, who have been rapping over dubstep and D&B tracks since before brostep became the popular perjorative (and it […]

It’s like Yelawolf said: don’t be so easily impressed, in ’93 you had to rap. So my endorsement of Curly Castro came with reservations. I’ve watched the Philly via Bucktown rhymer go berserk live, seen him match Scribble Jam champ Nocando in a cipher, and enjoyed both of his mixtapes — but to use an […]

It wasn’t Odd Future ransacking Fallon, but this week quietly marked another milestone first for another gifted rap crew, when Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro made their debut on Philly’s NPR outlet, XPN.  Re-working songs from 2009’s “Slow Twilight” for the Key Studio Sessions,  the pair brought live guitar, deft flourishes, and a pinpoint refinement […]