Steve 'Flash' JuonIf you don’t already know who Zack Fox is here’s a quick primer. Born December 6th, 1990 in Atlanta, Zack first got attention in his teen years by clowning around on social media, then gradually evolved from there into being a multi-faceted artist/rapper/comedian. Which one he is on any given day depends on his mood and what happens to inspire him. One day he might be designing album covers for Thundercat, the next you might see him as Tariq on Abbott Elementary.
Zack is too versatile to pin down to any one genre, even though on “shut the fuck up talking to me” he drops references to pro wrestlers like Triple H and Steve Austin. Pinning someone’s shoulders to the mat for three is the most common way to “win” a match, but we’ve certainly seen the format evolve over the years — everything from submitting to a painful hold, to being the last one standing in a bloody brawl, to escaping a cage and being the first person whose feet touch the floor. I’m expounding upon this for a good reason — Fox as a rapper is a lot like pro wrestling. There may be rules that we all accept while watching, but you can also make it up as you go, because the only real rule is that you have to entertain the audience.
“Bout to blow my top in this bitch! Okay now I’m pissed!”
In one of his most famous freestyles Fox rapped “my show got cancelled cause white folks don’t trust me.” If truth be told though Fox is one of the most consistently entertaining dudes I know. If I had the power to do so I’d give him a sitcom, a record deal, a HBO comedy special, and his own movie franchise where he’s the star and three sequels are guaranteed. Fox also delights in pushing buttons, which is why both the title and cover of “shut the fuck up talking to me” undoubtedly piss people off. Watching somebody smoke a cigarette with their toes in front of a greasy pile of chicken bones is pretty gross right? But it makes me laugh though, just like Fox does rapping about how much of a “menace” he is. “Pockets so deep it breaks space time dimensions.” There’s no trope of rap stardom he won’t send up as a joke.
If there’s a downside to “shut the fuck up talking to me” it’s that it’s under 20 minutes long. Given how hyperactive Fox can be it’s probably amazing that he sat down for long enough to record that much music before moving on to whatever else he wanted to do. Even if he’s joking the music is dead serious though. The Alchemist produced the title track. BNYX produced “mind your business” and “mexico.” Long time friend Kenny Beats did “get off my dick.” No matter how much Zack Fox might be trying to make you laugh, he can’t help but accidentally be a good rapper, since even a joke has to be well written to land effectively. Zack flows better than a lot of emcees, has better beats than many of them, and in an age of pitch-corrected bars he needs no assistance to sound good. Oddly enough Zack Fox is a young man who sounds like an old school throwback.