Producer and artist Zoocci Coke Dope has released the follow up to his 2019 release Anxiety. This time around he offers a 7-track EP titled ANXIETY+.
Famed for his incredible production and engineering skills, he dons the artist’s hat on this project, singing and rapping with the same expertise that have made him such a sought after man behind the boards.
As a project, ANXIETY+ is a meditation on the mental health disorder anxiety, which is characterised by feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one’s everyday existence. This is very clear from the intro of the project, “OVERTURE+“. The first thing you hear when pressing play on ANXIETY+, you hear the following words: “Welcome everyone, it’s great to have you back. You’re taking steps to find yourself. Remember, this is a safe place, there’s no judgment. You’re accepted right where you’re at, and wherever that leads to find your own peace and happiness. Feel free to express yourself, to release you anxiety. I want you to be able to walk out with inner strength to finally be free…”
The message sounds like a welcome note at a therapy retreat or rehabilitation centre for people with anxiety. The project is interspersed with these kinds of messages and sound clips, addressing anxiety as a disorder.
Zoocci’s lyrics are also direct and honest. On “OVERTURE+” still, he raps, “Lately I’ve been out here acting crazy, I don’t like the person I’ve become/ I hope you know that this is what you made me/ Promise me that you would never run/ Never leave and tell me that you’re done/ I’m the opposite of having fun/ So much on my mind, it weigh a ton/ Schizo nigga with a gun… promise when I’m gone you’ll remember me…”
On “LiFT ME UP”, which features Nasty C and Blxckie, Zoocci looks back at a time when things weren’t always good, rapping “Mama working late saying she couldn’t pick me up… I remember smoking weed that wouldn’t lift me up… I remember bitches looking down now we up… I was in the stu’ when all my friends were getting drunk…” but now he celebrates being in a much better place. The somber “PLUS+”, which features Lady Zamar & Mars Baby, acknowledges the hardships of life but resolves that being yourself is the best thing one can do for themselves. Zoocci sings, “Be yourself, free yourself, we’re living in hell…”
The rest of the project continues with the theme of Zoocci addressing all things that potentially causes his anxiety. From heartbreak, past traumas, addiction to loneliness, disloyal friends, mortality and everything in between. Fella man and Stogie T are the last features on the final song “iLL PRELUDE”.
A deeply personal project, ANXIETY+ is a succinct project crafted by an artist who is not afraid to reveal his vulnerabilities and while there doesn’t seem to be a solution insight, for all his struggles, he is self-assured despite the uncertainty and existential angst that comes with life. He knows himself and he accepts himself.
Listen to Zoocci Coke Dope’s ANXIETY+ here:
