By Odeisel
Young rappers face the same old obstacles on their rise (at least they think so) to fame and stardom. How do you get people to listen to you? How do you get people to invest in what you project? When they do, how do you attach yourself to an act or a movement that has steam or acclaim already? Rapper STS seems to have answered those questions on his journey so far. Appearing on The Roots album? Check. Having retail maven Dr. Jay’s take up and back your crusade? Done. With that momentum in his favor, Atlanta via Philly rapper STS drops his work, The Sole Music EP.
His steeze is not too hard, not too soft; sprinkling a dash of lyricism with a pinch of swag and a sense of humor that allows him to flow and not take himself too seriously. The result is a balanced piece that showcases his skills as a rapper and his penchant for song crafting.
The isolationist thump of “Sole Music” takes us on a journey of young love juxtaposed with a love for sneakers. STS names almost every sneaker you can think of and finds cleaver ways to weave them into his narrative. “Oniomania,” which we covered last week, is the tale of shopping addiction of two women in particular. STS also pulls himself into the story, noting his penchant for tag popping.
A lush soul sample powers “Brown Babies” and STS shares his love of Black women and his desire to retire to Atlanta and raise “pretty brown babies.” He notes the differences between the concrete jungle up top and the laid back Atlanta lifestyle. The production on this track is much more smoothed out and sample dependent than the previous songs and shows a more emotional range for the rapper.
His sense of humor comes out in full force on the track “Take Me To Hadley St.”, a reference to the album by Solange. STS professes his crush on the singer and admits that he’s been digging her for years. The beat is a whimsical synth- driven melody that lends to the humorous nature of the song. The Knowleses better be on the lookout for homie in their bushes.
“Is You With Me?” brings it back center with a slow bumping rhythm and clashes in the background. He needs any chick that’s down with him (presumably even Solange) to know that he puffs that weed and he’s about handling his business and spending money fast. This is the first real song where his ATL accent comes out and that south of the Mason-Dixon delivery becomes more apparent.
Tanya Morgan’s Donwill stops by for a remix to “Sole Music.” Donwill’s opening verse is a more focused and balanced performance, perhaps showing the home team rapper how it should be done.
The Sole Music EP is a short and sweet piece of music that shows the range of STS. It’s not domineering or saccharine sweet but it does bounce from humor to allegory to serious and back adeptly. More work on his vocals is needed to get him consistent and perhaps a longer sampling of his music with a tighter narrative will illustrate whether or not he has the stamina for an album but in total, it’s not a bad work.
Out of 5
Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill
Follow Odeisel on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/odeisel
Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion
Follow us on Networked Blogs
