Zilla Rocca is a Philly emcee/producer that has been going strong for over a decade, working as a solo artist, as well as a part of Career Crooks and as part of the Wrecking Crew. Just last fall, he teamed up with Vancouver artist Chong Wizard to release the album Midnight Sons. Now he’s back with a new solo album, Vegas Vic.

Vegas Vic is an interesting album, in that Zilla Rocca created this character known as “Vegas Vic,” who serves as something as an inspiration for the album. However, this isn’t exactly a straight ahead concept album that’s telling the story of Vegas Vic from start to finish. This might sound convoluted, but once you press play on the album, it will make more sense. Even more important than that, once you press play you won’t care as much because you’ll just get lost in all of this quality hip hop. While Rocca has done projects where he handled the production and projects where he’s worked exclusively with one producer, for Vegas Vic he’s using the piecemeal approach, bringing in beats from The Expert, Disco Vietnam, Mute Speaker, Doc Heller, DJ M-1, Small Professor, and yes, himself as well. This approach works in this case because Rocca isn’t trying to do anything too far outside of the box on this album – this is all about some grimy East Coast boom bap. With these beats in place, Rocca comfortably hops in the pocket and starts spitting his rhymes, getting into some shit talking, some storytelling, and some personal confessions, all done with his sarcastic sense of humor. Even though this is technically a solo album, by the time you get to the back half, it starts to feel more like a posse album, with appearances by ialive, Alaska, Curly Castro, Alex Ludovico, PremRock, and Scorcese. Everyone brings it on the mic, but PremRock in particular shines above the rest in this particular case, really getting in the zone with some interesting flows and clever wordplay that will have you reaching for that rewind button.

Vegas Vic is another solid album from Zilla Rocca. There’s nothing too fancy, just solid East Coast boom bap, clever wordplay, and plenty of talented friends along for the ride.