Your Old Droog has some powerful fighters in his corner on his latest release, for which he recruited Method Man, Denzel Curry, and Madlib.
On Thursday (April 11), YOD shared his new song “DBZ,” featuring Meth and Denzel over a Madlib beat.
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According to the rapper’s explanation on X/Twitter, “DBZ” is short for Dragon Ball Z, the 1980s and ’90s Japanese anime TV series.
“The song’s original title is DBZ vs Street Fighter in the vein of [the video game series] ‘Marvel vs Capcom’ but that’s too long for streaming,” Droog wrote. “Hence… #DBZ out Now.”
“This Ukrainian getting billions, no Zelenskyy/ All these projects, I feel like Prince, B/ YOD’s KRS, you Prince Be/ Get thrown off a stage, leave home in a rage,” Droog raps on his opening verse.
Meth is next up with some aggressive bars: “Divide and conquer, inside my being resides a monster/ I line you up like you need a barber, don’t be a martyr/ Don’t be a starter; believe in karma? I’ll be your sponsor/ Go even farther and dead beat, like it need a father.”
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Denzel then comes in with a nod to the famous 17th-century Japanese martial arts text The Book of Five Rings, which he spins out into some combative references.
“Five rings on my hand, Miyamoto Musashi/ Working to get bigger than a n-gga who starred in ‘Degrassi’/ By the will or grace of God, I’ma do it, wallahi/ It’s always the adversaries who be willing to stop me,” he rhymes.
In addition to getting bars from Method Man, Droog has gotten praise recently from other rappers of Meth’s generation — including, late last year, Black Thought.
On December 20 of last year, The Roots MC joined the group’s percussionist on Questlove Supreme to talk about music as well as his new book, The Upcycled Self. While namedropping artists such as Special Ed, Kool Keith and Greg Nice who influenced his work, the Philly native pivoted to shout out younger artists who he admires.
“Mach [Hommy], yeah, that’s my ace,” he began. “I think his association with the whole Griselda family and that movement, but the way that he’s distinctly, y’know, different is huge too.”
He then transitioned to his second pick, Your Old Droog, revealing that he didn’t initially like the Brooklyn rapper because “he sounded too much like Nas.”
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“I met him on the road opening up for Royce and Premier when they were doing their PRhyme tour and we sort of hit it off,” he admitted. “I talk about mentorship and, y’know, just artists that we share demos with one another and I’m just able to just, y’know, offer wisdom […] he’s been one of those artists.”
Thought collaborated with both Mach-Hommy and Droog on YOD’s 2020 song “Pravda,” which also features Tha God Fahim and El-P.
