Don't Feed Da Animals (Deluxe Version)

Blessed with an unmistakable voice that sounds like an ex-smoker’s electrolarynx dipped in molasses, Gorilla Zoe’s second album comes off as unique even when he’s doing something predictable. At first “Echo,” “What It Is,” and “I’m Dumb” seem like your average Southern rap club tracks, but dig a little deeper and you’ll soon realize that Zoe’s lyrics and delivery are anything but ordinary. Check, for instance, the sing-song baritone he used for “I Got It,” which sounds a bit like T-Pain might if his throat were coated with a year’s worth of exhaust. “I’m Dumb” turns the strip club anthem on its ear with a refrain rife with Zoe’s oddball slang and off-the-wall metaphors: “Bite down, shawty chewing like a billygoat / Going crazy, dancing on her tippy toes / And I'm smoking on that mistletoe.” Don’t Feed Da Animals contains some of the year’s most unusual club tracks, but the song that really sets Zoe apart is “Lost.” Zoe describes a soul at odds with modern rap’s thuggish posturing and braggadocio: “I'm lost on a road / And there's no one to talk to / There's nowhere to run to / I'm goin’ in circles / I'm talkin’ to myself.” It is the most disarming, plaintive and personal rap hook you will hear all year.