"In the past six years, the 23-year-old Chengdu MC born Zhang Zhengkai has issued roughly 20 solo rap projects, half a dozen collabs, and two albums ( and ) under his jackapplepeople alias that show a softer, poppier side. This desire has driven him to excess of late: Fall 2024's and winter 2025's Above & Beyond both had hour-plus runtimes across 30-plus tracks. And while there is magnificent foliage to be found in these forests of distorted plugg beats and warped vocals, there's also overgrowth."
"The quality of his work has improved rapidly since his earliest projects, on which he rapped in an ironically detached English. This music was aesthetically interesting but devoid of substance. His trajectory changed when Chinese cloud rap progenitor Bloodz Boi became his mentor, encouraging him to rap in Mandarin and upgrade his home recording setup."
Jackzebra, 23-year-old Chengdu MC Zhang Zhengkai, has released roughly 20 solo projects, several collaborations, and two jackapplepeople albums that reveal a poppier side. A penchant for high-volume output produced sprawling releases like Fall 2024's and Winter 2025's Above & Beyond with hour-plus runtimes and 30-plus tracks. Raised in Xujing, he began making music in his mid-teens and shifted from detached English rapping to Mandarin under mentorship from cloud rap progenitor Bloodz Boi. Hunched Jack Mixtape pares back excess toward a more traditional album structure. The tape is Surf Gang's first official release for him and features producers James Ferraro and Glasear; "Leon" employs nearly subsonic kicks, slashing snares, and doomsday bass.
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