jackzebra, Chengdu-born underground experimental rapper, has released phantasmagoric Hunched Jack Mixtape under SURF GANG records. Within the past year, jackzebra has created a hypnotically addictive musical realm, gaining recognition from American fans of the cloud-rap electronic genre, crafting a rather significant cultural impact by blending electronica, experimental tones, and Chinese rap. 

Often described half-jokingly as the internet’s “Chinese Bladee,” zebra's artistry has run semi-parallel with the early work of Swedish artist: warbled vocals over schitzophrenic, triphop hi hats have fostered the grey, overcast textures for which both artists have come to be known and loved.

Hunched Jack, however, deviates from this sonic stereotype: this time around, jackzebra is finding jazkebra's sound. Now represented by SURF GANG Records, the 23 year old rapper has released a mixtape under the label, an act of appreciation, for the producers that have shaped the sound of the 2020s underground. With features from Surf Gang’s Evilgiane, Eera, and Elipropperr alongside Woesum, Glasear, Cranes, and more, Hunched Jack Mixtape is the ultimate project resurrected from the underground of Soundcloud emo rap- a collaborative empire and a deliberately constructed experimental epistemology. 

Futurism proves the central theme of this mixtape—relinquishing in a new form of genre where mumble rap is being blended with experimental/electronic sounds. There’s a certain kind of allusive identity play that runs consistently with each track, where the artists’ motives toward the listener aren’t always clear, but the ambiguity feels intentional. Hunched Jack’s ability to represent the discursive aspects of a digitized community, with the added influence of zebra’s Chinese roots, makes this mixtape all the more transformative. 

Though progressive, it's difficult to listen to the project without using the framework of expectation set by the Soundcloud underground of the mid 2010s. jackzebra seems to acknowledge as such, even in the title. Drawing a subtle, nostalgic connection between zebra’s Hunched Jack and Travis Scott and Quavo’s 2017 collaborative project Huncho Jack—a paradigm that feels anchored in reflections of an ancient medium: being a teenager in the late 2010s. Evolved and avant-garde, Hunched Jack can represent the fully realized version of adulthood, where “Givenchy” gets streamed on the way to a 9-5 rather than on a walk to a fourth period high school class.

Opening up with “Parrot” the listener follows zebra, gyo, and Glasear through a journey of anger and defeat until “Massacre”, where the album suddenly shifts to something a bit more disorienting and withdrawn. Swedish producer Woesum joins in for “Run” which then interludes to “Catch me if you can” with Stacey, leading to an even faster, more repetitive orchestration that fights against the traditional. The mixtape finally shifts to SURF GANG's elipropper + Harto Falión’s sad recollection of the major events, feeling a bit more daunting. “My Heart” featuring Flea Diamonds is the slurred nonsensical sad song one can find themself longing for after something as vertiginous as an uneasy breakup. Ending perfectly with “Magu Remix” ft cranes and underground Chinese rapper 南部犯罪份子, you’re brought back to a production that feels no longer just Chinese Bladee. It's unmistakably jackzebra. 

Hunched Jack is evidence to to the fact that that jackzebra has captured a ‘cultural layer’ within underground rap. Identities have shifted. Nostalgia can mutate meaning. We are now entering a new era of experimentalism that is, perhaps, testifies against traditional hip-hop music, and jackzebra will shepherd us through.