New York, NY (Top40 Charts) After months of teasing fans with glimpses of new music in his DAYZZ OFF video series, today, 22-year-old rapper/singer Zach Zoya releases his highly anticipated major label debut "Slurpee". Directed by fellow Montréal creative GED, the video's grimy visuals, absurd humour and choreography amplify the hype energy of the song and grip your attention for the entire surreal ride.
Zach Zoya has been one of the most buzzed about rappers in Montréal's vibrant music scene since the release of his 2018 joint EP, Misstape with Platinum producer High Klassified (Future, The Weeknd). In the two years since, anticipation for new Zach Zoya music has been building with accolades recently rolling in from Exclaim! who named him one of the 10 Emerging Canadian Artists You Need To Hear This June, ELLE Canada who deemed him a "shooting star" and praised his "unique and versatile style", KIND Magazine who named him one of the Top 20 Artists to Watch This Spring, and Journal de Québec who declared him one of the Best 'Rap Keb' Artists of the Decade.
A second generation Canadian whose South African father immigrated to Canada after fleeing apartheid, Zoya's decision to release his major label debut today was made with much self-reflection.
"It is impossible for me to not be affected by the events surrounding
George Floyd's murder and the
Black Lives Matter movement that's currently taking place," Zoya says. "I think people will understand when I say you can feel the hurt in the air lately. In reflecting on what part I ought to play in all of this as an artist, I realized that I have the opportunity to lighten the weight of the heaviness and celebrate
Black excellence through my art. I think that's important. While I've never been known for making political music, I've been speaking out on social media over the past month and will continue to share my experience."
Coming of age in a rural Québec city with minimal diversity, Zoya found himself looking outside of his community for artists he could identify with. Growing up in a household without a computer or television, his early musical palette consisted of African, soul and pop music - rhythm-centric genres introduced to him by his father and French-Canadian mother. With his discovery of hip-hop, he began to find his own musical identity. Even though he couldn't understand the English lyrics, Zoya learned the melodic delivery of tight rap bars and smooth lyrical flows by memorizing records by Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake. "I didn't have that circle of friends I could battle with at recess and stuff. I didn't really have a choice but to go and learn word-for-word from what I had."
In only a few years, Zach Zoya went from honing his rap skills into his signature nimble, melodic style to earning a reputation for his high voltage live performances on the stages of Montréal's most esteemed festivals including the Montréal International Jazz Festival, M for Montréal, Metro Metro, and Festival d'été du Québec at which he also earned a finalist position for the FEQ Rising Star Award.
With his combination of talent, charisma, and perspective, Zach Zoya is poised to be the next Canadian star to build a worldwide following. Today's release of "Slurpee" is the first taste of the dynamic versatility found on Zoya's upcoming EP Spectrum, due out later this year via 7ième Ciel/Universal Music. Both a technically skilled, silver-tongued rapper and a songwriter capable of unspooling knotty emotions through smooth vocal refrains, woozy melodies and agile flows, Zach Zoya is an artist to watch in this era of outside-the-box, genreless music.
