“Unlocked,” by Denzel Curry is one of the most unique and underrated albums in recent years. Denzel wrote this album alongside American record producer, Kenny Beats. Kenny produced his most creative beats on UNLOCKED, eventually expanding his popularity. UNLOCKED is one of my favorite records by Denzel—so let’s analyze the whole album and see what makes it so great. 

UNLOCKED is a concise album with only 8 songs, each containing the most chaotic and unpredictable tracks Denzel has released. Despite its short duration, Denzel delivers a variety of flows, further displaying his talent and versatility as an artist. Kenny also provides the album with flawless beats that perfectly match the lyrics. In only 18 minutes, Denzel and Kenny come out with excellent performances, distinct from any of their other performances. 

If you’ve ever listened to Denzel Curry, you would learn one thing—he is an incredible lyricist. Denzel would talk about many topics/issues like mental health, personal struggles, daily life, and many more. His past albums, TA1300 and ZUU, introduced an alter ego that would present the dark and emotional journeys an artist has to go through. However, on UNLOCKED, he attempted to release something unorthodox and imaginative. Looking at the album cover, you can tell you won’t hear your typical Denzel. He has already released everything fans wanted from him, so he decided to take a different route. For instance, on track four, “Pyro,” Denzel expresses his hatred for battle rappers in just the first line. Here, Denzel sounds more like the famous rapper Dark Man X (DMX), in a good way. Many people compare Denzel to DMX solely because of his strong hooks with dramatic instruments. 

UNLOCKED has many great songs, but my personal favorite has to be “Take_it_Back_v2.” Take it Back is one of the most shocking and unique songs Denzel has ever released. The first verse is similar to Pyro, except that it has a very dark and sinister theme. Denzel annihilated the beat on this album. Later in the track, you hear some of the lyrics being repeated, but this time they’re revised with different voices. I think it’s interesting what Denzel did to switch the song up because if he hadn’t done that, we would’ve heard the same lyrics with the same voice repeatedly. 

While UNLOCKED shines in many ways, there are still several flaws in this album, Track 01 and Track07 being direct examples. In Track07, you mostly hear an instrumental; the song is just leftovers from the other tracks. Track 01 was the first song of the album, so you would expect an introduction to what the other tracks could sound like. However, Track 01 is just a series of clips from the 1953 educational movie Age of Turmoil. Most of the song is a man talking about the life of some teenagers which has no relevance to the album. It still confuses me where the idea of this came from because it would’ve fit perfectly if some of the songs talked about a specific story or event. 

Regardless, UNLOCKED is still an amazing album that I highly recommend. It consists of the most creative and colorful flows Denzel released. UNLOCKED could’ve been an album of the year contender if it was a little longer. Nonetheless, Denzel and Kenny still provide us with incredible music despite the album’s short runtime. With its outstanding flows and beats, UNLOCKED is definitely worth listening to again and easily goes down as the most underrated album Denzel has ever released. 

9/10

By Pranav Parlapall