“This is my throne, my chair, my stool” — Denzel Curry, “ Cosmic.m4a “
Miami, Florida, is a nine-hour drive by car, 14 hours by bus, and two hours by plane from my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. On the final Friday of February, I flew to the tropical city that birthed the cultural phenomenon known as SoundCloud Rap while reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms to attend the Miami date — 2/29 — of Red Bull Zeltron World Wide. ZWW is a special kind of indoor, turn-based soundclash. In a custom-built wrestling ring, Zeltron — an alter ego created by Miami hip-hop titan Denzel Curry — battles an opponent of his choosing across five rounds.
The acclaimed Carol City rapper — who is also one of the forefathers of SoundCloud rap — conducted the first-ever Zeltron on November 16, 2018 against the ever-explosive Brooklyn rap trio the Flatbush Zombies. Presented and produced by Red Bull in his hometown, Zeltron vs Zombies personified the exhilarating intensity of a collision between heavyweight boxers or world champion wrestlers or top-tier martian artists, but with rappers. Rappers who bring the kind of raw, mosh pit punk rock live performance that’s been prevalent in this new generation of underground, SoundCloud rap since the dawn of Odd Future.
As competitive live entertainment, Zeltron perfectly represents Curry, the ball of fire performer who…
