VIP Boys, the project of Tampa rapper Vern Senior and producer Spon Marcos, releases new album on Friday

DJ Wally Rios is on the ones and twos.

By Ray Roa on Thu, May 18, 2023 at 10:49 pm

Photo by Ivana Cajina

Vern Senior (left) and Spon Marcos (right) of VIP Boys.

Spon Marcos has always collaborated with the very best of what Tampa Bay’s music scene has to offer (RIP Kenosobi), and the Tampa producer is doing it again with the new project alongside rapper Vern Senior.

Senior, one of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's 22 Rappers to Watch in 2022, told CL that the effort is a hip-hop outing through and through, that some might interpret at upscape boom bap.

"It’s traditional yet modern and classy. The lyrical content is that of weight and texture meaning it has meaning and it’s tastefully executed," he added. "I specifically intended to flex more of my lyrical prowess without the cost losing cool."

And lest he be too cool, Sponatola's rugged production adds a heft to the record mixed and mastered in part by Best of the Bay-winner Maxx Forman and distributed by none other than the godfather of Tampa hip-hop, DJ Sandman.

Tickets to see the VIP Boys album release on Friday, May 19 at The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing in Ybor City are available at the door for $10. DJ Wally Rios is on the ones and twos.

Slideshow

22 Tampa Bay rappers to watch in 2022

Brilly Asher Asher has always been a Florida boy. Born in Jacksonville but raised in Tampa, he's well-known for his versatile style and trippy visuals. Music has always been his passion. Asher remembers his brother being the first to put him on to rap, suggesting artists like Kanye West and Jay-Z. They used to freestyle at the house, and Asher started writing his own raps at a young age. His rap name comes from his mom, who used to call him "Brilly Boy," a nickname derived from his real name, Gabriel. His mother passed away when he was 12 years old, which impacted him and inspired him to create music. Asher has been releasing music since at least 2016 but didn't start commanding attention until 2017 when he dropped his first official music video for "Toonami Flow." The clip opens with a fun track inspired by Asher's love of anime and cartoons. He drops witty lyrics throughout and references shows like "Pokémon," "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Dragon Ball Z." Halfway through the video, the colorful visuals and animated lyrics come to a halt as a second track, "Dead Ninja," seamlessly begins. Rapping against a red background, Asher spits bars about Black Lives Matter, police brutality, corrupt politicians, and more. Finally, the video closes with a montage of clips, both old and new, that show the continuing struggles of Black Americans. The video is powerful and impressive, especially coming from a young artist who at the time, didn't have a lot of music out. But Asher didn't take advantage of the momentum in the wake of the video. Instead, he stopped making music for three years. In 2020, he came back full force with "Traumatized," which explained to his fans that he had been in a consuming relationship for the duration of his silence. Since then, he hasn't stopped, crooning on his dreamy 2020 single "Moon and Back" and releasing two projects last year. He's already working on another EP, 3-P3AT, which will feature three new songs he hopes to release early this year.

Zhalarina A true Tampa talent and overall gem. Not only is Zhalarina a rapper, she is also a playwright, actor, music composer, and so much more. Being a creative has always been a part of who Zhalarina is—and where she comes from. Her mother is a writer, her father a visual artist, and her uncle a rapper. She developed an interest for the genre at a young age, having seen Da Brat and TLC on TV. Soon, the multi-talented artist wrote her first rap at 11 years old. As her writing progressed, she ended up entering a slam poetry competition and winning. This introduced her to a whole passion that she would not have discovered had she not taken that leap of faith. She soon learned about the University of Wisconsin-Madison's First Wave, a theater program that integrates hip-hop. There, she ended up creating The Light, with PBS Wisconsin, an autobiographical story told through three music videos. She wrote, acted in, and produced the whole show—and her hard work paid off. She ended up winning an Emmy in the Chicago/Midwest region. That's not the only acclaim Zhalarina received. For NPR's Tiny Desk Contest she submitted her song "Lala." Although she didn't win the contest, NPR highlighted her and her song as a "stand-out entry." Zhalarina's raps are witty, quick, catchy, and make you want to jump out of your seat to bop around. She likes to have fun with the content of her music and since is wildly imaginative—you never know what to expect. A year ago she released "Good Yawning," a song in which she impersonates 12 female rap artists and their respective styles. She nails the styles of MC greats like Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot, and Lauryn Hill, but also aces the new-age mic queens like Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Chika, and Rico Nasty. Another impressive record was "Tampa," a bouncy 2019 hit dedicated to her hometown. Her confidence on the track helps to crack an inevitable smile, and her rhyme work is slick and smart, integrating a Southern accent and lyrics that talk about being from the "flirty dirty, that scurry dirty." The song has over 5,000 plays on Spotify. "It was my most ambitious song at the time—I got to celebrate women in hip-hop, past and present," Zhalarina says. "I shot, directed, and edited the music video myself. It was a passion project and I was proud of how it came out." She just recently dropped her first album, Again, which features the three mentioned tracks as well as 14 other songs. But don't think that that's all for the busy artist, she's eyeing a summer release for her second album.

Big Baby Scumbag Perhaps one of the biggest modern talents to come out of Tampa Bay, Big Baby Scumbag has carved out a sound and aesthetic that resonates with his audience. With over 106,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, he truly has found his crowd. He has a trashy Southern aesthetic that his fans have come to love: think camouflage apparel, dirty Timbs, socks that say "Eat Shit," and plenty of cheap beer and Publix. His sense of humor and love of pop culture is another reason listeners can't get enough. Whether he's dropping a freestyle inspired by "Squid Game," Tom Brady, punching coronavirus in the jaw, or a fun single like "Trappin' Out the Krusty Krab," he always brings the energy and witty references to the table. Raised all of his life in Tampa, Scumbag first got into rapping through a friend from middle school. The friend had a rap group called Scumbag World and encouraged Scumbag to join it and rap with them. At first he was apprehensive, but once he started rapping he realized he had a knack for it. He dropped his first official song, "Tha Trenchez," in 2015 and received so much positive feedback that he was able to book tours and shows just off of the one song alone. Soon after was a song called "Jelly" and before he knew it he was performing at Rolling Loud in Miami in 2016. WorldStarHipHop would go on to debut numerous music videos of his around 2018, leading to even more of a boost in popularity. He has since released too many singles to count, more than a handful of entertaining freestyles, and six albums. His favorite work to date is 2020's Big Baby Earnhardt, named after NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt (Scumbag constantly rocks NASCAR apparel and has been a fan for years). "It's my favorite mainly because of the head space that I was in as an artist throughout the process of recording those songs. Also the stories and context of the songs," Scumbag says. "What artist do you know that has both Lil B and Project Pat on the same album?" Although he considers Big Baby Earnhardt to be a "perfect album" he says that he has plenty more exciting music on the way. He is currently working on a few projects for the upcoming year that will see him experimenting with new sounds and a "hell of a lot of collaborations." Can't wait to see what Big Baby's got cookin'—especially if it's in the air fryer.

Nico Sweet Sweet knows how to draw listeners in. Her style can be compared to the likes of Tierra Whack and Rapsody as she raps with rhythm and precision over effortlessly chill beats. She began consistently releasing music in 2018 and has 17 singles available on Spotify. Although she has yet to drop an EP or album, her singles have been more than enough to get her noticed. Even fellow Florida rapper T-Pain came across two of her songs while on his Twitch livestream and loved them. The two songs T-Pain stumbled upon are some of her most popular to date. "Nah Nah" came out in 2018 and has over 11,000 listens on Spotify, while "Mmhmm" which debuted last year has over 7,000 streams. Sweet says "Nah Nah" is still her favorite song to date, adding that "The energy that track creates...people are always ready to scream back the hook! I love the fact that I have a song that can transcend over time. We have so many trendy, short-lived songs out today and that's dope—but for me, I'm blessed to say my music is more than that, does more than that." She doesn't have a project coming up yet, at least not at the moment, but Sweet's still been working at her craft everyday by "working on a lot of features, singles, and mini videos." She's also been performing all around Tampa Bay including local open mics.

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About The Author

Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...

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