(Photo By Ink Tank PR)
While readers seem to be loving all of the local Hip-Hop music, thought it would be interesting to switch things up a bit. So without further delay, meet ZZ Ward. The intriguing singer/songwriter was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Oregon, and now resides in California. She grew up surrounded by the Blues. Her father wrote and sung Blues music and ZZ used to perform with him and his band when she was younger. As she got older she gained a new musical love, which was Hip-Hop. She started writing hooks and performing for local rappers and the rest as they say is history. She took her roots in Blues and love of Hip-Hop and blended the two genres to create her own unique sound. And that sound can be heard really well in brand new mixtape Eleven Roses. Eleven Roses is essentially ZZ’s bluesy remix of some of her favorite current Hip-Hop tracks. She took on singles by several rappers like Freddie Gibbs and Wiz Khalifa. The project also includes two originals by collaborators Blended Babies, who have worked with Hip-Hop artists in the past and some acoustic tunes to create buzz for her debut album. Her inspiration for the tape comes from a very odd place.
She was listening to “Yonkers” by Tyler The Creator and began to sing over his rhymes. She created a melody for the hook and things just took off from there. The result of that bizarre creative moment is a track called “Better Off Dead” which has a video that can be seen below. If readers would like to check out the rest of the mixtape or learn more about ZZ, they can do so via her website.
**My Two Cents: I love all different types of music, so ZZ and her unique style are right up my alley. I like what she did with Tyler’s song because it’s something fresh. Artists these days are so quick to conform instead of doing something new and it really brings down the quality of music. So it’s nice to have the ZZ’s of the industry who are brave enough to standout and do their own thing. I enjoy her vocals too, she has a cool deep raspy thing going on. Much props to ZZ Ward and I wish her nothing but the best of luck as she prepares her debut and carries on in her career. -MinM
