Thizzle Jones Gorrilla Muzik (2011, Green Ova)
The newest tape from Green Ova crew member Thizzle Jones, Gorrilla Muzik, owes much to fellow Oaklander and rap icon, Too $hort. Sure, you could say this about a cavalcade of burgeoning Bay artists both past and present, but unlike the atmospherics of labelmates Main Attrakionz, or the speed and precision of Shady Blaze, Thizzle opts for sparse, 808 thumps and a healthy dose of the weed and women raps that made Todd Shaw a household name.
Production credits are murky, at best, with the beats attributed to “Thizzle Jones, Shady Blaze & More!” There are definitely slaps on here that echo the recent, uptempo work of Squadda B on his I Smoke Because I Don’t Care About Death tape (cf. “Kissin On My Syrup”; “Fakest Year Ever”; and “Ice Nites” — though I don’t believe either Nem270 or Clams Casino, architechts of the latter two tracks, are featured here), but the production folds in regional soundscapes, like on “Syrupp,” which uses Pimp C’s “Pourin’ Up” beat and the Fat Beats-esque minimalism of “Murder Boy Anthem.”
Gorrilla Muzik picks up speed and diversity across it’s 18 tracks (#19 is a radio edit), with “Green 1st” featuring E Da Ref flipping something that is reminiscent of Yaz’s “Situation” on codiene, and offering yet another reminder that the Five Chapters of Green Ova refuse to be confined by genre designations in their own music, or the music of the artists they sample to create their sound. And although this tape is clearly a demo — displaying the vocal muddiness of early Main Attrakionz stuff, with in-the-red bass — there is plenty to dig into, and it offers yet another strong statement from Oakland’s rap visionaries.
Freaky Tales for the Cloud Life.
-SM
