Steve 'Flash' Juon“Sorry Not Sorry” is a 2018 album from Zoey Dollaz, a Miami rapper whose motto is “You’re gonna be dead longer than you’ve ever lived, so just do shit.” Well I’m happy today to tell you that six years later Zoey is not dead. He continues to thrive and prosper, even after being targeted in a drive-by two years after this album was released. Not long after that he dropped “Dollaz” from his last name and in a sly acknowledgment to his own history launched his own ride service with bulletproof cars. The fact the service is even necessary is its own problem but you certainly can’t knock Zoey’s hustle.
You also can’t knock “So Good” featuring Ty Dolla $ign on the hook. That’s far from his biggest hit — that would be “Post and Delete” featuring Chris Brown — but it sounds like it could’ve been just as big or bigger. It’s got that literal finger snapping, sing-along vibe perfect for radio play. I’m also impressed by “RIP.” Far too often a song with that title would be about taking out all the opps with the blicky, but instead Zoey is offering a heartfelt tribute to his friends who are no longer here. He sings the hook and does so without using AutoTune and that impressed me too.
It’s odd that this album has such a confrontational title, complete with the former Mr. Dollaz flipping double deuces at the camera, but even when he has to “watch out for them snakes” he sets it to an upbeat friendly bop on “Find a Way.” It’s hard to imagine somebody would have enough beef with Zoey to riddle his car with semi-automatic gunfire. Nearly everything he has to say feels good. Even when he’s hustling it’s not a personal attack on anybody — it’s doing what he has to do to survive in this world.
Knowing Zoey’s history I expected “Sorry Not Sorry” to be a super aggressive album full of drill rap style bravado, and was instead treated to an artist who is just hard enough to keep his street cred while just ambitious enough to give his music a viable road to the mainstream. I think my biggest takeaway from this release is that it’s shocking he’s not even bigger right now than he is. That song with Chris Brown did 10 million views as of the writing of this review, but to me it feels like it could have done ten times that. Zoey is a star but I expect him to shine even brighter in the future.