ZZ Ward Ft. Freddie Gibbs

Though the name might evoke images of bearded men in sunglasses and trench-coats, ZZ Ward is actually a young songstress from the Pacific Northwest. Apparently, she grew up singing the blues and as a teen became enamored with hip hop, which means the genre has a heavy influence in her sound. Her 'breakout' mixtape has her belting out over Tyler, The Creator and Wiz Khalifa beats.This track finds her sampling an older Freddie Gibbs cut featuring a Freddie Gibbs verse! So meta. It's pretty difficult to not enjoy a track with a piano-organ combination, especially when punctuated by a verse by the Baby Faced Killa. Ultimately though, this is not my particular cup of tea. I'm not too partial to singers that I feel sing AT me, and call it what you will, but I will always side-eye a fair-skinned and blue eyed "blues singer." Check it out though, make up your own mind.