‎Grit & Lust by Zinoleesky on Apple Music

Within the two years following his grand introduction on 2020’s Chrome, Zinoleesky noticed his star energy rise due to a street-inspired lyrical type that explored the distinction of his weighty ambitions and the extenuating circumstances of his start. However whereas the stress between targets and origin has been the crux of his most profound work, the singer has additionally discovered time to replicate on the evolving panorama of his life on tracks just like the Niphkeys-produced “Blessings” and “Naira Marley”, and ponder companionship on songs like “Loving You” and “Rocking.” On 2022’s Grit & Lust, Zinoleesky confirms himself as a transcendent star by way of the facility of his storytelling and witty observations. Throughout eight songs, the singer (born Oniyide Azeez) pulls threads from his life to create a compelling tapestry of the lifetime of a pop star in the midst of a compelling come-up. Filled with soulful odes and gritty phrase play punctuated by Zinoleesky’s lithe voice, Grit & Lust shouldn’t be a lot a victory lap as it’s a testomony of the place he’s proper now. “Private” is an audacious hustler’s anthem that addresses on-line trolls and his super-sized desires, whereas “Yan Yan Yan,” a hypnotic mix of log drums and prickly horns, finds Zinoleesky bigging up himself. As with every part Zinoleesky, the true clincher on Grit & Lust is how he retains discovering nimble pockets to microcosmically categorical elation, angst and acceptance which can be alien to the de rigeur of avenue pop, as he does poignantly on the Ayra Starr-assisted “Many Roads.”