Flatbush Zombies rapper Meechy Darko has revealed the group currently has “40 new songs” in the bag, some of which will appear on their forthcoming James Blake-assisted album.
In an exclusive interview with HipHopDX, Darko spoke about his debut solo album Gothic Luxury, but clarified that the Zombies are still very much hard at work on new music.
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“[Zombie Juice] and Erick are busy man, so it’s on them, they’re the producers,” Darko said. “All I can do is rap when they send me a beat, but I’m not gonna pressure. Whenever they ready … there’s a lot of songs to be honest. I wanna say, damn, I don’t wanna say.”
He continued: “Let’s just say altogether between shit we did with RZA, the shit we did with James Blake, the shit we did with ourselves, 40 songs, maybe? If you see me, I don’t know. It’s 40, might be four next time. I don’t know.”
The Brooklyn rapper also spoke about his time working with James Blake, and said the “Mile High” producer taught him that going back in to re-record a verse is sometimes a good thing to do, even if Darko thought the original take was perfection.
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“I get ‘demo-itis’ sometimes with songs,” Darko said. “Because when it comes to my voice too if I did it this night, it hit perfectly, some things I’m not gonna re-record. I know I did not pronounce this word properly, oh well. Like there’s some sloppiness, and then there’s just a natural feeling here.”
He added: “[Dot da Genius] also taught me to be comfortable with like, ‘Yeah, but also if no one knows this, you’re in love with this, but no one else is noticing this thing if it’s not killing you, it’s okay to change.’ James Blake taught me that a little bit first.”
In September 2020, Erick The Architect told NME that James Blake would be producing Flatbush Zombies’ next album.
“I don’t wanna talk too much about it because I don’t wanna put a deadline on something, but I will say that we’ve recorded about 20 songs with him,” he said. “So it’s definitely not an EP, it’s something larger, and I think it will be revered as the Zombies’ next album.”
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Discussing the exact nature of Blake’s input, he added: “Well, James did a heavy load but myself and Dominic [Maker from Mount Kimbie] pitched in with production. It’s all of us really collaborating, you know?
“So it’s like one of us would give an idea and we’d try to build around it. A lot of the songs were created that way. I might have started it and James finished it or vice versa.”
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Meechy Darko’s comments come after the Flatbush Zombies reunited for a show at Los Angeles’ Novo on Tuesday (November 1), where they performed an unreleased song called “Tsunami Warning” produced by James Blake.
Erick The Architect also performed his new solo single “No Ice” for the first time with AkTheSavior, an hour after the track itself hit DSP’s. Zombie Juice took a moment to run through his new solo track as well called “Dizzy,” which features The Underachievers.
Meechy Darko told DX that the trio’s new solo careers happened naturally when the pandemic halted the Flatbush Zombies’ extensive touring schedule in 2020.
“Because of the fucking pandemic, Zombies are fucking tour masters, we’ve been touring non-stop for years, so because of the pandemic it kinda stopped that and it gave me, Erik and Juice space we never had,” Darko said.
“It just happened, it wasn’t like a decision, it wasn’t like a plan that we had … and it was just a journey that we all had to just figure out while everybody else figuring out what the hell is going on.”
While it’s unclear when Erick The Architect and Zombie Juice plan to release their solo records, the Flatbush Zombies haven’t dropped a proper solo album since 2018’s Vacation In Hell.
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Meechy Darko dropped Gothic Luxuryon March 11, which features appearances from Busta Rhymes, Freddie Gibbs, Black Thought, Denzel Curry and more.
