Directed by the mighty Joe Castro of “Full Spectrum” fame, the video for “Weak Stomach (Zilla Rocca Remix)” finds the Shadowboxers and Curly Castro on a midnight basement meeting gone to hell over a desperate dame, all in the bowels of South Philly
Three years under the curtain. Dust on the trench coat. Stomach empty. Diner windows daring you to come in and eat. After hours spots whispered in a bottle, hummed under dimly lit corners where the tables are empty. In Philadelphia, where there are no limits, no rules. Anything can go on.
This is the world of Zilla Rocca & The Shadowboxers. This is Noir Hop. This is Weak Stomach EP.__
The first release since 2010′s Broken Clocks EP,__ Weak Stomach EP is a collection of shabby pulp scribbles from Zilla Rocca and his taillight chasers The Shadowboxers. For this assignment, hisWrecking Crew gin buddy Curly Castro (Man Bites Dog Records) and Chi-Town drum rollerAlex Ludovico joined in-house card shark Blurry Drones for the knockout drops. Small Professor (Coalmine Records) and Has-Lo (Mello Music Group) took time away from fitting cement shoes to lend beats that hit your head like cheap wine.
Compiling legitimate liquor from previous Shadowboxers juke joints and Alex Ludovico’s Winning/Losing plus new cuts like a Beatles cover (“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer), a posse cut in honor of Walter White (“We Got Fangs This Year”), an ode to NYC blade runners (“Blood on Blood Converse), and crippled romance molded around a stark Elliot Smith lineage (“Stay Clean Remix”),Weak Stomach EP is a real sharp shooter, a precursor for the forthcoming LP No Vacation For Murder (which features Roc Marciano, The Kid Daytona, Geechie Suede, Open Mike Eagle, and more).
Welcome back to Zilla Rocca & The Shadowboxers’ brand of gunshot jazz. And don’t speak to the weak of heart. Don’t eat on a weak stomach — play your part.
Stream below:
Rap game flooded with a deluge of “5 AM in Toronto” freestyles. Exercise some creativity. Pick up your pickaxe. Dig up some dirt. Ring Zilla Rocca, throwing right hand hooks like Rocky, the real Rocky, over Gaslamp Killer and Adrian Younge’s Veteran’s Day distortion. A few people didn’t get GLK’s last record. A comment section sideliner chimed in that he should stick to his DJ sets. But for those who love psychedelia in all it’s squalor, it felt like a new slash through the fabric. Or as El-P more eloquently said: “Gaslamp incorporated the tricks, turns and spirit of his scene, and made it special through his unique soul and grit…Every song idea comes from places most producers ignore or are ignorant of. They could only come from a DJ who specialized in psychedelia for years. It’s one of the first completely contemporary electronic records that doesn’t sound like an electronic record.” In the words of Bill S. Preston: listen to this man, he knows what he’s talking about.
Only a rapper like Zilla Rocca, steeped in the noirish aesthetic could bring something that feels right. Dead Vets don’t crowd surf. Eating off of rats, still malnourished. Hip and hopping in that urn. Everything hurts. Torture. The dead vets buried with no map to the grave site. The mixing is as muddy as it gets. This could be a requiem for the right wrong man or an amphetamine to fuel you before you go reaping. Dead vets. Summon them through seance and they can still go pop.
After HipHopDX named Wu-Tang Pulp as the #10 Mixtape of 2012, bumping Death Gripz and Childish Gambino to Honorable Mention, the Wrecking Crew knew they had to strike like masked avengers while the samurai steel was hot.
Enter the video for “Scallops”. Directed by F. Pat Murray of Glass Canon Films (of “Full Spectrum 2″ fame) and filmed in historically beloved locations from every pocket of Philadelphia, the short film “plays out like a supernatural heist film; Has is a would-be hit-man being interrogated by a group of intense assassins; Castro is the member of his crew whose telepathic powers save the day, while Zilla drives the getaway car out of the Celebre’s Pizza parking lot.” – WXPN’s The Key
Download Wrecking Crew Presents Wu-Tang Pulp at whatever price you see fit at Bandcamp.
Paid customers will receive an exclusive bonus cut “Known Piranhas” by Curly Castro x My Man Shafe x Zilla Rocca x Has-Lo produced by The Expert.
Y’all still trippin off that Jigga shit
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Tomorrow night November 29th, the #1 villains in ya area Zilla Rocca, Curly Castro, and Nex Millen will be forming a triumvirate of debauchery at World Cafe Live to celebrate the release of Party With Villains EP. Known co-defendants Dewey Decibel and My Man Shafe shall be hiding from the long arms as well. It’s a FREE show at the most decadent venue in Philly. Use the extra coin to buy your favorite villains a boilermaker or two. Here’s the info: Thurs Nov. 29th |
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And remember folks…don’t make headlines, make money |
Artwork by Castle
You a fan of The Wire? This track is right up your alley, then. Taken from Zilla Rocca‘s Party With Villains EP, this is the final track in the “Major Crimes” trilogy, which found Zilla, Curly Castro and Small Professor dedicated tracks to characters from this dynamic TV show (you might want to check out “Bunk” and “McNulty” before throwing this one on).
Alongside Wrecking Crew affiliates Has-Lo and Curly, Zilla paints a picture about this particularly infamous villain, showcasing the seedy underbelly of the political game over a fly organ-driven track from Small Professor. Some shit to scheme and plot to. Sheeeeeeeeit! -Pigeons and Planes
Premiering yesterday at Pigeons and Planes, Wrecking Crew rebel Curly Castro falls further down the rabbit hole of science fiction and New York nightmares before the release of his LP FIDEL with “Nu Guinea”, an instrumental by acclaimed producer Skream. Calling inZilla Rocca to take out the knees, “Nu Guinea” is for “any one of you who bug out over the idea of someone watching you (be it Big Brother or that crackhead on your morning train), bounce to this”
Last year, Silent Dust of the UK put the fedora signal in the air with their drum-n-bass/EDM self-titled release and Zilla Rocca, a likeminded noir avenger across the pond, responded. The first collaboration between both midnight movie holders is “Massive”, an 808 stairway rattler out now via None60 Records, or as Example Magazine called it, “a genre defying tune which encompasses elements of US hip hop and Silent Dust’s own soulful approach to production featuring the vocal talents of american Zilla Rocca.”
Steam “Massive” via Soundcloud
Purchase “Massive” via BeatPort
Read an interview with Silent Dust and Zilla Rocca at Red Eye Records
