Florida's Denzel Curry has never courted hype. But the cult MC, singer and producer may just have 2018's hip hop album of the year. Indeed, Curry's third outing proper, TA13OO (Taboo), is the kind of conceptual art-piece that others talk about. Crucially, he's not hurried TA13OO. "I've been tryna come out with this for a long time," Curry says from Los Angeles.

These days artists of Curry's stature in hip hop rarely schedule interviews to promote albums. Instead they let Twitter generate the narrative. But 'Zel hopes to accentuate the divergent facets of what is both his most personal and adventurous work in TA13OO. "I want people to focus on my versatility, the message and just the overall theme of the album," he states. "I just want people to understand where my mind was going, or what I was, and where I was at the time, when I was creating this piece and everything." Curry developed an unusual roll-out for TA13OO, with each of its three parts (Light, Gray and Dark) dropping over three days. "I don't want anyone getting confused on where the Light part ends and where the Gray part ends and where the Dark part starts," he explains. "I just wanted to separate it in a theatrical way; in a way where people could be like, 'Damn,' like, 'Yo, this is actually mad different.'"

The Carol City native launched his rap career with mixtapes while in high school. Local legend SpaceGhostPurrp recruited Curry for his ill-fated group Raider Klan. In 2013, Curry — a seminal cloud rapper — self-released his solo debut, Nostalgic 64. Between albums, he crossed over with the post-dancehall banger Ultimate. In 2016 Curry was named as one of XXL's Freshman Class on the back of his sophomore, Imperial. Resolutely indie, he's now signed to Loma Vista Records, home of Iggy Pop.

Curry hit Australia in 2017 to much buzz. He even programmed rage, proving a charismatic host. The year before, Curry revealed to XXL that he'd been offered acting roles. There was talk of his auditioning for a Sean Penn film, but Curry passed. "I felt I wasn't ready." He is interested in movie projects, but means to first hone his dramatic skills. And Curry applied this same methodical approach to TA13OO.

The album's latest single, CLOUT COBAIN | CLOUT CO13A1N, has startled listeners with its grungily nihilistic opening line: "I just wanna feel myself, you want me to kill myself." (Curry portrays a circus clown in the accompanying monochrome video.) In fact, the song is about the artist's precarious bond with fans continuously clamouring for fresh quality output in the digital age. Industry machinations stress Curry. "I wish artists didn't have to be in such shitty situations and they just get thrown money at [them]," he sighs. "I just wish they had a different way of coping with their lives and there were kinda new ways of remaining happy."

Certainly, TA13OO lives up to its declaratory title as Curry delves into topics such as molestation, depression and existentialism. "I just felt like I wanted to give something that was so tangible; that held a lot of substance — that's why I kept it as raw and kept it as real," he notes. Curry is often described as a political act. However, the Floridian has admitted that he didn't vote in 2016's presidential election. In SIRENS | Z1RENZ, he regretfully shares his take on Trump's America (alongside guests JID, J Cole's Atlantan protege, and Billie Eilish). "My main thing is I'm just very observant. I wouldn't consider myself a conscious person or anything like that. I just see a lot of shit."

Today Curry is identified with South Florida's rap explosion. Yet, with his dynamic delivery, he also invented punk-trap. Last year, Curry toured North America with the hardcore bands Show Me The Body and Trash Talk — the latter Odd Future associates. But, on TA13OO, Curry unexpectedly veers off into other directions — soul, R&B and synth-funk. Still, the finale is entitled BLACK METAL TERRORIST | 13 M T. "All these elements that you hear on the album were always a part of me, I just never expressed them," Curry says. "It was just that moment where I realised there's no rules to making anything. So it was like, 'Shit, since there ain't no rules to making anything, I'm gonna make everything.'"

Recently on Twitter, Kanye West vented his frustration at being categorised reductively as a singer, rapper or pop star — he prefers to be called a "recording artist". Curry feels similarly. "I see myself as an artist! Yeah, no offence, but everybody wanna be putting me in a 'rapper' category — but a rapper only raps. They don't know how to do anything else. I can do everything. I'm an artist first."

Alas, TA13OO is airing at an emotional time for Curry. He's still grieving over XXXTentacion (aka Jahseh Onfroy), the polarising emo-rapper murdered in a robbery in June. Curry mentored Onfroy pre-fame — and at one stage they resided together. "Me and him had real ups and downs in our relationship, but all those ups and downs ended with just me and him talking to each other. It reminded me of the first time we met, where we were just talking to each other." Surprisingly, Curry holds that Onfroy's biography shouldn't be expurgated. "I would just have everyone remember XXXTentacion like who he was, all together — like, from his flaws and all to everything, because they lowkey made the person who he is. That's who he was at that time. Everything from the controversy to him changing; transcending — I want everybody to remember all those things..."

Curry is super-ambitious. "My plan is to do every style of music — and in art — ever and just dominate every genre, dominate the charts, and dominate everything in life... and become the best performer of all time." Curry once tweeted that the sole rapper better than him is Kendrick Lamar, although he retracted that in another interview ("Nobody's better than me"). And perhaps K-Dot might need to step up after scoping out TA13OO. "That's all I want," Curry flosses. "I want everybody to step up, 'cause I ain't hear nothin' that caught my ear this year — minus J Cole and KIDS SEE GHOSTS."