His father taught how how to produce and make beats at 11, his mother showed him how to DJ at 16, while Producer, Rapper and Dj, Zoink$, taught himself how to rap. His influences include J.Dilla, Kanye West, Pharrell, MF DOOM, Q-tip, Phife Dawg, Method Man, RZA, Pete Rock, Andre 3000, and Slum Village. “I normally make the beats I rap on,” says Zoink$. “I like to rap but see myself just producing and deejaying in the future.” Zoink$ has two completed projects – the 5 track “resERECTion” (2014) and the 6 track “CERA With Tez Pariah” (2015). Now he has just released the first single, “185r”, of his upcoming EP.
You may not recognize the name Zoink$, but if you’re a fan of quality hip-hop, you’re probably familiar with the quality of the man’s work. Zoink$ style can be compared to J Dilla and Madlib’s, since both were heavily influenced by jazz and both loved sampling the most obscure records possible, but it will also remind listeners of Kanye West in some instances.
The biggest difference between Zoink$ and Kanye, though, is that West is all about turning samples into mega hooks and rapping about how goddamn magnificent he is at everything. Zoink$, on the other hand, seems perfectly happy remaining in the background letting his beats do the talking. He raps too, sure, but without too much proclaiming.
Overall, “185r” shows a helluva lot of potential. It’s fun, unpredictable and has an incredibly high replay value because of its smooth organic sounding groove. The only thing that stops this track from getting a perfect high score is that I don’t quite feel prepared to go that far for a track that is only 1 minute and 18 seconds long.
It’s too short a time to see how this producer is capable of fully fleshing out the arrangement. But it is definitely worth checking out and I couldn’t recommend it more on the basis of the creativity heard during its short duration.
Zoink$ who wrote and produced the song, says his only scope with the track is to create some market awareness. And in that sense he has certainly succeeded. We will definitely be hearing a lot from this 20 year old ATL, Ga based creative, as he has a host of new projects lined-up for 2017.
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