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Music

Detroit Rapper ZelooperZ and Ratking's Wiki Crack Skulls with "Heart"

The Bruiser Brigade affiliate's 'Bothic' album is out this Friday, March 4.

ZelooperZ is the tallest, wildest member of Detroit rapper Danny Brown's ragtag Bruiser Brigade clique. Later this week he drops a new studio album called Bothic full of crazed bangers like "ISBD" and "Elevators," the first official release for Brown's Bruiser Brigade Records. Below you'll find the latest cut from the album, a gruff attack on the senses called "Heart" featuring gritty production from Bulletproof Dolphin and a brutal guest verse from the album's only outside rapper, Ratking's Wiki. Below you'll find a quick chat with the rapper about how he comes to create these beautiful monstrosities and a stream of the new song. Bothic is out this Friday, March 4. You think you're ready, but you're not.

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NOISEY: Tell me a little bit about your influences. Who'd you listen to growing up that inspired you to make music of your own?
Zelooperz: I'm influenced by E-40 and his unorthodox, genuine personality, flow, and charisma on tracks. He is potent with it, even down to the way he speaks. Also Lil Wayne mixtapes… they had me with the bars. And Missy Elliott embracing herself when she had shit rocking with her dance influence.

What do you look for when picking beats? There's some really out-there sounds on the album.
I'm grim with it, so that's what I'm going for, and I also know how to float on the high tolerance, aggressive beats you may hear. Also check for the classical influence on the album.

When you get a good one lined up, do you go in and write or vibe until a song idea happens?
sometimes I write after I freestyle the track. I just find the flows inside the beat and merge them. After that I write some bars to give the audience, or those that can, a better understanding.

You've said before that Bothic means "bruiser gothic." Can you explain the concept a little more?
We're all gonna die one day so why be afraid of fate? Be you. Enjoy you. Shit can always be worse and look at the light in the dark.

Wiki is the only guest on Bothic. How did "Heart" come together?
I fuck with Wiki. We played a show with Trash Talk in Detroit. He wild with it. Black Noise cool with Ratking, so I asked him to hit him up.