Born and raised in Tennessee, Zay Bantino looks to bring his urban flair of hip-hop through is latest EP titled ‘168’. Being faced with a troubled childhood in Ridge Grove, he turned his life around through rapping. Through his deep reads across the duration of his 7-year incarceration, the music Zay creates allows him to verbally vent his emotions. Now being determined for greatness within the industry, he put in one week of work following his release. With so much emotion and evolution following his release, Bantino felt his uniqueness had to be shown to the world.
The EP features five different songs with a wide range of sounds, representing different parts of his life journey to date. The following week straight after Zay’s release, he was in the studio perfecting the EP ‘168’, which is how many hours there are in one week. Bantino describes his creative process for the EP stating, “each song was [in] a mental place [that] I was in at the moment”. In each of those mental places, Zay reflected on various aspects of his life in which is the inspiration for each song. Feeling that there is no one in his lane due to his experiences, Bantino feels this allows him to focus on his creations from start to finish, perfecting every aspect. The overall message he wishes to give to his fans is that “I’m here to stay, so get use to my voice [expressing] the long struggle”.
A true inspiration displayed in his latest EP telling Zay Bantino’s grind to straighten his life out through his passion in music. With a variety of messages and sounds to ‘168’, be sure to keep running up all five songs to begin understanding his life transformation through music.
