Denzel Curry releases new single ‘Zatoichi’ with samurai-inspired video – watch

Denzel Curry has dropped the second single from his forthcoming sixth studio album – you can see the video below. 

‘Zatoichi’ is a collaboration with slowthai and follows lead single ‘Walkin’ in previewing ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’, which is due to arrive some time this year. It comes with a video directed by Adrian Villagomez, which was shot on location in Peru and takes its cues from the legendary movie samurai that the track’s named after, whilst also nodding to Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill: Volume 2’. 

The track is heavily indebted to drum-and-bass, marking one in a number of recent diversions from the form book for Curry. He’s already announced that ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’ will be his first full-length not to be littered with his trademark characters and alter-egos; instead, per a press release for ‘Zatoichi’, it will be his most emotive and reflective work to date, tackling such subjects as suicide, sex addiction, depression, gun violence, institutional racism, generational trauma and police brutality. The latter will be an especially sensitive topic for Curry; his brother, Theon, died after being tasered by police in 2014.

No release date has yet been set for ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’, but Curry has said of the album:  “I like traditional hip hop, I like drum and bass, I like trap, I like poetry, so a lot of that is going to be interwoven in this album including jazz and a lot of genres that I came up on as a kid and just being in my parents’ house. This album is made up of everything that I couldn’t give you on TA13OO or Imperial because I was going through depression anger issues.” Curry is also on record as saying that the films of iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa have influenced the record.  

‘Walkin’ and ‘Zatoichi’ are Curry’s first new music since he released standalone single ‘The Game’ last year. Curry has scheduled an extensive European tour for April and May, perhaps hinting at a possible drop date for the album in full. The run includes three UK dates in Glasgow, Manchester and London – see full details below. 

Denzel Curry, April 2022:

29 – Glasgow, SWG3

May 2022:

2 – Manchester, Academy

4 – London, O2 Academy Brixton