Bring Me the Remix of Zilla Rocca Week 10 - ASK? (Philly Hip Hop):
If one were to break down the various members of the Beat Garden clique Dart Adams-style and compare them to the Wu-Tang Clan, Nico's lyricism would probably land him the role of GZA while Zilla Rocca might best be described as an amalgam of RZA and Ol' Dirty Bastard. Bear with me through this forced analogy for just a moment longer, as ASK?'s role in Zilla's extended hip hop family has often brought to my mind that of Inspectah Deck's. He's not quite as prolific as the Clean Guns duo, but like Deck on a Gangstarr track, ASK's occasional guest verses tend to steal the show with just a few bars, leaving more than one commenter on this site asking for more from the man.
While ASK's musical catalog isn't quite as extensive as that of other Beat Garden artists, his productivity level when it comes to the visual side of the game is off the charts. From flyers to album artwork - including what was arguably the best mixtape art of 2008, the Frank Miller-inspired comic book strip cover for Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca - ASK's signature can be found on the designs for a whole lot of Philly artists. This being the latest installment of Bring Me the Remix of Zilla Rocca, the ongoing promotional event in which Zilla has gotten some of his favorite producers to remix tracks from his solo mixtape Bring Me the Head of Zilla Rocca, it should also be noted that ASK produces beats, too. Up to this point I haven't heard a whole lot from him on the production side of things, but his remix of Evolve One's Sick Fuck suggests that he's got a bright future ahead of him, a true triple threat as an emcee, beat maker and artist. I know y'all don't like to hear me drone on and on about these songs, so I'll hand it over to Zilla:
ASK is probably the most frustrating cat I know -- he's too talented. He did all the artwork for my mixtape as well as flyers and graphics for tons of people in Philly. His live performances are...well, live. Lyrically, he's on some other other other ish. And lastly, his beat game has improved leaps and bounds the last couple of years.
"Sick Fuck" is another favorite of mine and the listeningners (word to Phonte). The original beat by Evolve One was so sinister and simple on some straight boom-bap, it literally forced me to write that verse immediately upon hearing it the first time. I wanted ASK to go crazy with it 'cause his beats usually have really snappin' drums with madness sprinkled on top. Sometimes he'll sample jazz and R&B, other times he'll play some space age pyschosis synthesizers. He's a wild card to say the least. And some of the lyrics I dropped on the original were hella bizarre in retrospect (I'm not a Twisted Sister fan, and yet...), so I figured mixing two extremes would be extremely interesting.
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