Denzel curry biography. Who is Denzel Curry - a rapper who loves Shakespeare and destroys beats with his unique flow

In honor of the release of Denzel's new album, TA13OO, we've compiled 13 interesting facts about the Florida rapper that set him apart from most of his contemporaries and will help you better understand his work.

Started rapping at school and challenging classmates to battles

Denzel was born in Carol City, Florida, and began writing poetry in elementary school. But the first time he tried to make rap out of them was when he met a guy named Premi at a children's creative club from the Boys & Girls Club. They constantly freestyled, and at first Curry only lost in battles, but it was the defeats that helped him hone his skills. Thanks to Premi, Denzel essentially learned to rap.

Later, the young rapper began to challenge other peers from his circle and gradually came to the point of independently recording and posting songs on the Internet.

Denzel grew up listening to R.A. The Rugged Man, Big L, and Big Pun

Hip-hop surrounded him since childhood, as his older brothers often listened to Jeezy, Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne. At the same time, Curry himself liked completely different music.

As he himself admits, the brothers listened to a lot of trap because they were street and dangerous kids. He was more interested in New York hip-hop with an emphasis on the lyrical component: R.A. The Rugged Man, Big L, Big Pun and many others. Denzel also kept a close eye on the Florida rap scene, watching the rise of Rick Ross and listening to his home state's revered Trick Daddy.

He went to school with Trayvon Martin, whose murder sparked the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old from Carol City who was shot and killed by local vigilante George Zimmerman during a nighttime patrol. Despite the fact that the guy was unarmed, the court recognized Zimmerman’s actions as self-defense. It was the acquittal that served as a catalyst for a wave of protest and led to the formation of the Black Lives Matter social movement.

Denzel went to the same school with Martin, and many of their mutual friends said that Trayvon liked the music of the rapper who was starting out at that time. All this could not but have an influence on Curry, and he returned to this topic more than once in his work.

Denzel joined the Raider Klan by painting a portrait of its leader SpaceGhostPurrp

Young Curry uploaded his first tracks to MySpace (there was such a social network!) just at the time when SpaceGhostPurrp began to gain popularity in the Florida underground scene. His mixtape "Blackland Radio 66.6" caught Denzel's attention, and he suddenly realized that they were from the same city.

They met in person when Curry drew a portrait of Purp and admitted that he also raps. In 2011, he joined the ranks of Raider Klan, a cult underground association whose leader was SpaceGhostPurrp.

At the same time, Denzel recorded his first mixtape “King Remembered: Underground Tape 1991–1995” under the pseudonym Aquarius’Killa. It clearly bears the influence of the early work of Three 6 Mafia and the phonk sound that SpaceGhostPurrp was famous for.

However, Denzel and Raider Klan parted ways in 2013 as he wanted to pursue a solo career. For a long time he did not pay attention to the attacks of his former mentor, but in 2016, in his eyes, SpaceGhostPurrp turned into a deceiver, an envious person and a manipulator. Curry said that he was tired of enduring and released several diss songs - “Purrposely” and “SpaceGhostPussy”, which was recorded together with XXXTentacion and Ski Mask The Slump God.

Now Denzel admits that he and Purp are on good terms again, and last year the former Raider Klan members even got together, which gave fans a ghostly hope of a possible return.

He is a big fan of animation - especially anime

Denzel's passion for drawing instilled in him a great love for animation. He loves anime and names “Dragon Ball Z”, “One Punch Man” and “Death Note” among his titles. Of course, like almost every child born in the 90s, his list of favorite animated series includes Futurama, American Dad and Jimmy Neutron, as well as less obvious things like Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Denzel plans to publish his own comic, Black Metal Terrorist

Curry's love for drawing eventually led him to the idea of ​​releasing his own comic book, "Black Metal Terrorist" (the same name as the album's closing track, "Ta13oo"). According to the plot, there will be two main characters - one of them was thrown into the sea and later turned into a half-cyborg, and the second was originally born half man, half machine.

At least there is no approximate release date, but Curry said in an interview that he would work closely on the comic after the release of the album “TA13OO”. He is responsible for the general outline of the plot and concept art of the characters himself, but more professional people will help him improve the dialogues and the drawings themselves.

Denzel also asks fans to pay attention to the drawings that appear on the screens during his concerts - he personally drew all the characters from there.

Tupac was inspired by one of his early releases

Denzel's 2012 mixtape Strictly For My RVIDXRZ was directly inspired by Tupac's second studio album Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z. This can be seen already from the cover and title - with the only difference being that Curry’s release contains a reference to the Raider Klan association, in which he was a member at that time.

“What struck me on Tupac’s album was how he talked about the murder of Latasha Harlins(Her death in 1992 was one of the catalysts for the Los Angeles riots - approx.), recalls Curry. - I wanted to do something similar on my mixtape. I was talking about Trayvon Martin because his murder was a complete f*ck, and the worst thing is that the culprit was not punished.”

Odd Future were the first to take notice outside of Florida

In 2012, Denzel released his second mixtape, King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996". It was him who Earl Sweatshirt heard and supported the aspiring rapper on his Twitter. Other members of Odd Future later joined in the praise and would go on to help Curry gain support and establish connections with the West Coast.

His brother took part in underground fist fights and was killed by a stun gun

Treon "Tree" Johnson, Denzel's older brother, was an active participant in the violent street fighting in south Florida and was to be heavily involved in the filming of the documentary "Dawg Fight." In the video below you can look at one of Tree's fights (he starts on the left hand of the leader).

However, in February 2014, he died from a stun gun while trying to be detained by police. Neighbors say Johnson was beating someone else's dog with a metal pipe, but friends believe it was self-defense and the dog attacked him first.

His most successful track is dancehall inspired, but became famous thanks to an internet meme.

Curry first gained fame outside the rap community after his track “Ultimate” went viral. The song was originally released back in 2015 and remained in the shadows for a long time. Everything changed in February 2016, when a popular Weiner used “Ultimate” in his video, which received more than 8 million views in a matter of months.

Since then, the phrase from the chorus “I am the one, don’t weigh a ton / Don’t need a gun to get respect up on the street” has been stuck in the heads of everyone who even occasionally accesses the Internet for a long time. As a result, “Ultimate” gave a huge boost to Curry’s career and was certified gold in 2017.

The flow of the track was inspired by the song of famous Jamaican dancehall artist Buju Banton " Sensimilla Persecution", namely, a diverse manner of performance. This is partly why Denzel often likes to play with rhythm and intonation in his tracks.

He lived in the same house as XXXTentacion and tried to keep him out of trouble

A couple of years ago, Curry lived in the same house with fellow artists Ronny J, Twelve"len and JK The Reaper. They called this place ULT House, and one day Denzel decided to throw a big party there - that’s how he first met XXXTentacion and Ski Mask The Slump God Later, Curry invited Ax to live with him and tried in every possible way to protect the then little-known rapper from trouble and give him protection in the wake of the first high-profile media scandals.

By the way, it was in this house that Denzel recorded all the songs for the album “Imperial”, as well as that very diss track on SpaceGhostPurrp.

One of Curry's alter egos pays homage to the iconic underground rap opera

Denzel often refers to himself as Zeltron or simply Zel. This is not just a derivative of his name, but also an elegant reference to the underground rap artist Del The Funky Homosapien.

In 2000, he, along with producer Dan the Automator and DJ Kid Koala, teamed up to form the group Deltron 3030, and released a concept album of the same name in the space opera genre. In the story, the main character Deltron Zero (played by Del) fights against the New World Order of the 31st century with the help of rap battles and becomes the champion of the Galactic Rhyme Federation.

The record has achieved cult status, and Denzel is one of many rappers who is a fan. In the track “Zeltron 6 Billion” he directly pays tribute to Del’s work.

Curry wrote the new album in reverse order, and looked to Shakespeare for inspiration for storytelling

"Ta13oo" is conceptually divided into three acts: the light side, the neutral gray side and the dark side of the human essence. Despite the final order, Denzel began writing the album from the end, as he originally intended it to be an extremely dark and moody work. It was only while working that he came up with the idea of ​​creating a more complex concept.

“When it comes to storytelling and the way I compose my albums, I take inspiration from Shakespeare and his works,” Denzel admits. - I read “Othello”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, I read most of his works. I try to be guided by the question “to be or not to be” when I try to tell the stories of my heroes.”

Denzel Curry is a famous American rap artist. He was born on February 16 (according to the horoscope Aquarius) 1995 in Carol City (Florida, USA). Full name: Denzel Ray Don Carey. His height is about 176 centimeters and his weight reaches 67 kilograms.

Denzel was born and raised in a very ordinary family, where financial problems often arose. He spent the first 19 years of his life in his hometown with his parents and four brothers. Denzel's ancestors were Native American and Bahamian. His father was a truck driver, and his mother was a security manager at a local stadium. His parents were music fans, and so Denzel grew up listening to a wide variety of musicians who went on to achieve great things in the musical field in their lives.

He began writing poetry while studying in elementary school. He became interested in rap when he entered the sixth grade. After graduating from high school, he began studying at the College of Design and Architecture in Miami, but after two years of study he was expelled. The reason for this was the divorce of his parents and a certain loneliness that he experienced because of this. He then decides to attend Miami Carol City Senior High School, where he focuses all his energy and emotions on music.

The beginning of a musical career

While still in school, Denzel Carey began recording his raps while playing in the background, thereby uploading the tracks to his MySpace account. During this time, he listened to rapper SpaceGhostPurrp's "Blackland Radio 66.6" mixtape and became interested in meeting him after learning that he also resided in Carol City. After Denzel expressed his interest in joining the group, he was immediately hired and began performing live.

Within a few weeks, he released his first mixtape, 2011's King Remembered Underground Tape 1991-1995. The popularity of his first mixtape began and from that moment he was already receiving the first grains of his fame. Other tracks followed and, ultimately, he decides to leave the group and start a solo career.

Further successes

In September 2013, his debut full-length album “Nostalgic 64” was released. He started 2015 with the release of the single "Ultimate". In 2016 he released the single “Flying Nimbus” featuring Lofty305, followed by the release of his second album “Imperial”.

Also in mid-2017, he announced his upcoming studio album "Ta13oo", due for release in 2018.

Relationship

In high school, Denzel dated a girl for about two years until she decided to break up. This event greatly traumatized the rapper. Today it is completely free.