Gorilla Zoe, the Atlanta based dope boy turned rapper, is back with his sophomore album Don't Feed The Animals (Bad Boy South). With this trip to the Zoo, Zoe takes his rough demeanor down a notch by crooning and harmonizing through each track.
The musical quality is heavily polished on Don't Feed The Animals, and Gorilla Zoe takes advantage of the production value by attempting to position himself radio friendly light. Unfortunately, between talking smack about loose females and dope boy narratives, Zoe doesn't deliver much musically.
Gorilla gets introspective on “Lost” as he slowly dishes about life on the road and in the spotlight. Lyrically, Zoe's keeps it typical, “Losing my mind / losing control of the wheel / swerving on and off the road,” but it's his delivery that defies expectations. He vibes smoothly over a simple beat just letting the truth come out. But just as Gorilla loves to hate his not-so glamorous life, he quickly turns back into his Dope Boy alter-ego on “I'm Dumb” as he looks for a “wife for a night.”
Don't Feed The Animals reaches low points on tracks like “S*** On 'Em” and “Echo” as Zoe jumps on the auto-tune wave. Both are ill-fated songs that in actuality serve no purpose other than Gorilla wanting to come off as experimental.
In the same vain as 808s & Heartbreaks Gorilla's flow is very misplaced, sounding awkward on “Echo.” Topping it off, “Hood Clap” is Gorilla's desperate attempt re-make his hit “Hood N****.” Lyrics like “If you’re hood and you know it, clap your hands” just make the drug dealing game sound like a childish act.
Zoe does manage to stay true to his roots on “What It Is” and “Dope Boy” and lyrically delivers what most like best about him: raspy hard rhymes. “Bricks of that 'thrax call me Osama / presidential kush call me Obama / pull up to the trap trunk beat 'em like thunder / Man I'm getting money better watch your baby mama.”
Don't Feed The Animals has moments of glory but then tragedy swipes the dream away when songs like “Talk Back” take sexual explicitness to a what-the-eff level killing any hope the album ever had. Gorilla Zoe takes a lot of risks trying to show off a softer side to his hard strung dope boy attitude, but with a lack of valuable content, this effort feels like an incomplete album without a clear concept.
Gorilla Zoe Featuring Lil Wayne "Lost"
Originally published @ http://allhiphop.com/stories/reviewsmusic/archive/2009/03/20/21202980.aspx
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