Elemental Zazen, The Glass Should Be Full

Elemental Zazen stuck himself with a really bad name. There may be worse rapper names out there, but he’s got one of the worst ones I’ve ever heard. On his second album, The Glass Should Be Full, Elemental Zazen demonstrates a casually virtuosic flow reminiscent of Aceyalone, with the dark, self-deprecating lyrical quality of Aesop Rock. His flow makes him fun to listen to. Unfortunately, he shoots him in the foot with his wordplay — it’s not much better than his name.

He has a few moments of cleverness here and there. “Disappear” contemplates the hip-hop game and offers some advice to young rappers: “Mortgage your future for some money and some fickle fans.” And also some thoughts for more established rappers: “Hope that I left more than some money and some crummy advice.” But most of his lyrics are more like those from “No Handcuffs: “So what if life’s a bitch / Spread her lips and fuck her / ’til her mother has a miscarriage / and we never exist.” And most of the album is lyrics like that.

If the beats on the album were better, he could get away with a lot more, ’cause he’s got a wonderfully busy flow. But the beats are mostly utilitarian. They’re mostly serviceable, but they start to sound the same after a while. “No Survivors” has a nice, funky piano part and some kind of delayed keyboard on “Dying Planet.” And when the beats are boring on an album, you listen to the lyrics more, but that doesn’t help things here.

Zazen’s flow is good enough that he’s genuinely enjoyable to listen to. He does have a few moments of cleverness, but his lyrics are mostly pretty bad. If he could get some good beats behind him, it might not make as much of a difference. With the sameness of the beats here, there isn’t that much worth checking out. If he worked on his lyrics more, he could have a lot of potential. Or, alternately, if he found himself some killer beats, he could probably balance out his lyrical lameness. But The Glass Should Be Full doesn’t offer very much on its own.