Curry left Raider Klan in 2013, releasing his debut studio album, Nostalgic 64, in September of that year, while still in high school. He has since released three extended plays: 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms in 2015, 13 in 2017, and UNLOCKED (a collaboration with Kenny Beats) in 2020, and four studio albums: Imperial in 2016, Ta13oo in 2018, Zuu in 2019, and Melt My Eyez See Your Future in 2022. TA13OO, ZUU, and Melt My Eyez debuted at numbers 28, 32, and 51 on the Billboard 200 chart, respectively, with Melt My Eyez returning at number 17 after the release of an extended edition. All of his projects have garnered significant critical acclaim.
In 2012, he released his second mixtape, titled King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996, which caught the attention of fellow American rapper Earl Sweatshirt and other members of Odd Future label.
Curry's third mixtape, titled Strictly for My R.V.I.D.X.R.S., was released after the death of Trayvon Martin, who also lived in Carol City and went to the same high school as Denzel Curry. His rap style on this mixtape was inspired by 2PAC. On June 9, 2015, Curry released his first double EP, titled 32 Zel/Planet Shrooms. His first release in 2016 was the single "Flying Nimbus".
His second full-length album, titled Imperial, was released on March 9, 2016, then re-released later on Spotify as the deluxe version on October 14, 2016. In June 2016, Curry was featured on a cover as one of the XXL's 2016's Freshmen Class.
On May 13, 2017, Curry uploaded a track entitled "Hate Government [demo]" to his SoundCloud account. In the weeks that followed, he released two more demos for songs entitled "Equalizer [demo]" and "ZELTRON 6 BILLION ft. Lil Ugly Mane." After these releases as well as a series of cryptic posts on social media (seemingly portraying another alter ego called Zeltron), he released an EP entitled 13 on June 25, 2017. All of the demo tracks were included on the EP as well as two other new songs. On August 18, 2017, Curry released another song called "Skywalker." Later that year, on September 22, a remastered version of 32 Zel was released, including a remix of "Ultimate" featuring Juicy J.
On April 2, 2018, Curry released the lead single off of Ta13oo titled, "Sumo" on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show. On May 24, 2018, Curry released the second single off the album titled, "Percs". Curry then released the third single titled, "Clout Cobain", on July 13, 2018, and announced that his album TA13OO, would be released in three acts: The first act, Light, was released on July 25, followed by Gray on July 26, and Dark on July 27. Each previously-released single represents one of the album's acts, as "Sumo" represents Light, "Clout Cobain" represents Gray, and "Percs" represents Dark, which comes together cohesively to form TA13OO. TA13OO features guest appearances from GoldLink, JID, JPEGMAFIA, ZillaKami and more.
On January 5, 2022, the official trailer for Curry's fifth studio album, titled Melt My Eyez See Your Future, was uploaded to his YouTube channel. It was revealed that the album would contain guest appearances from artists such as T-Pain, 6lack, Slowthai, Rico Nasty, J.I.D, and Thundercat, among others. Curry said the project would feature a new, more mature sound, different from his previous works: "Y'all are not going to hear the same type of Denzel anymore." On January 24, a single titled "Walkin", along with a Western-inspired music video directed by Adrian Villagomez, was released. Curry also said the album "is made up of everything that I couldn't include on Ta13oo or Imperial because I was going through depression and anger issues", and would take inspiration from traditional hip-hop, drum and bass, trap, poetry, and jazz. The same day, a North American and European tour promoting the album (with guest acts Kenny Mason, Mike Dimes, Redveil, and PlayThatBoiZay) was announced. On February 24, Curry released another single from the upcoming album, "Zatoichi" featuring Slowthai. It was accompanied by a music video also directed by Adrian Villagomez. On March 18, Curry announced the album would be released on March 25. On March 21, a third single, "Troubles" featuring T-Pain, was released along with a music video. The album was released on March 25, 2022. It debuted at number 51 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number 23 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Curry recorded a song featuring rapper Reason, "1st Quarter", as a contribution to Apple Music's "collection of exclusively commissioned new songs from Black creatives", titled Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs. He commented: "It's an accomplishment to make it through the first quarter of my life. Especially as a Black man in America".
Curry's song featuring PlayThatBoiZay, "Let It All Hang Out", was included in Elvis—a biographical movie about Elvis Presley that premiered in June 2022—as well as on the movie's soundtrack album.
On June 24, 2022, a collaboration between Dot da Genius, JID, Curry, and Kid Cudi, titled "Talk About Me", was released, along with a music video directed by Cole Bennett. On June 29, 2022, Curry performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. On July 21, he performed "Walkin" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
On September 30, 2022, Curry released Melt My Eyez See Your Future (The Extended Edition). The album features reimagined versions of songs from the original album with live instrumentation performed by the Cold Blooded Soul Band, which performed with Curry on his NPR Tiny Desk Concert and The Tonight Show performance.
Dark & Violent
Denzel Curry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
You ain't never heard no
Tales from the darkside
You ain't never heard no
Tales from the darkside welcome to the land
You ain't never heard no
Tales from the darkside what it's 'bout?!
Running away from the moon to
Catch the sun quicker drug dealer
Nino with the steelo trying to
Sell kilos and grams
Settling angry stomachs up in his fam
So if that silver spoon on your
Plate, if you touch that, that's your fate
Don't have faith, Like Evans
You got to face demons to get to your heaven
The pimps is the prophets
Not prophets for reverends
This is the lifestyle of a broke adolescent
So here's a lesson of a
Teen that survived Rikers but shortly
His life had ended with a bullet
That's made out of Midas
You ain't never heard no
Tales from the darkside
You ain't never felt the pain of the darkside
You ain't felt the burning
Flames of the darkside
You don't have a fucking name on the darkside
You ain't never heard no
Tales from the darkside
You ain't never felt the pain of the darkside
You ain't felt the burning
Flames of the darkside
You don't have a fucking name on the darkside
Knew a young brother without a name
He was in love with his nina trapped
And steadily schemin', barely sleepin'
But dreamin' of pretty bitches and beamers
But when he awake, he sees his fate
And his reality, to do whatever it takes to
Elevate his fucking salary
Any nigga's a casualty, kill 'em, rob 'em
Then casually walk off into the darkness
It all started when he was, welcomed into
Our fucked up world
The son of a fucked up girl
And his father was just a blur
His life had took a curve
When he saw his brother dead on the curb
Due to retaliation
Of the gang relation, he was young, a kid
A baby and yet to realize the
Pollution of the nation
Now he 18 life in jail is what he facin'
Shit, murder was the case that they gave him
Shit, murder was the case
When they raised him
Mind stuck in the all black prison
You think he give a fuck about the system?
(Car driving) nigga we gotta get this money
Damn right
We gotta get this money, I got the plans
Everything's set up just got to go in there-
Got the banger man, as long as
You got the hammer man, we out
Go by the book
You ready to do this shit or what?
Yeah, yeah, 'this what I got to do
Out on the gank, rolling the dank
As he cased out the bank
He was catching that shank
Getting loaded the stick
Trying to major his rank
Thugging was how he was brought in the paint
Rush the security, no longer pure was thee
Soul turned it cold for the love of the gold
Bust in the air, everyone hit the floor
Not giving a fuck, loc-ing off of the 'dro
Bodied a nigga, riding in a dropped ‘Lac
Top back, cruising them twenty fours
So I went crazy, my vision got hazy
I walked in the bank, and I start to get bold
Clutching that pistol grip
The teller was moving too
Slow so I pistol-whipped
The bitch, he was twitching
Bust at a civilian
And blasted the mag with no
Mask in the buildin’
Burn the fingertips off, replace the dental
Left the golden bullet magic in his coufie
No his temple
That’s engraved, leaving corpses
In graves, Glock 17 cutting fades
Barber, we dumped the security in the harbor
Then we switched the identity
Chose the name Leroy Carter
The bank teller looking short and squeamish
Steve pistol-whipped the bitch
She kept screaming
Shut up, ho, before a nigga nut up, ho
Steve said he couldn’t take the shit
So he took her to the back
Then Steve grabbed the MAC
Then he put it to her head
And then he ripped the bitch
Bro, we gotta do a job or we might get toast
13 shots rung out and it left two ghost
Tales from the dark side, jack move, riding
Trials and tribulations of the
Dark and violent
The lyrics to Denzel Curry's "Dark & Violent" paint a gritty and haunting picture of life on the streets and the consequences that come with it. The song tells the story of a young protagonist trying to escape the darkness and violence around him, but ultimately getting caught up in a life of crime and destruction.
The lyrics touch on themes of survival, desperation, and the harsh realities of inner-city life. The singer is portrayed as someone who is forced to make difficult choices in order to provide for his family and elevate his own status. He is driven by dreams of wealth and success, but he is also weighed down by the negative influences and dangers of his environment.
The song explores the consequences of these choices, with the singer facing imprisonment and the loss of loved ones. The lyrics also touch on the cycle of violence and revenge that perpetuates the darkness in their world.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind