ST 2 Lettaz: "Kiss the Sky"

In wake of the gargantuan album-rap rappers into which G-Side have metamorphosed, this is a small thing, the half-baked brainchild of studio rats deciding to drop something for the blogs. The track samples “Purple Haze,” but not in the gross, “dude rapping over a fat guitar riff” way one might imagine. Instead, the beat is downright buoyant, adorned with all the frills and density present on most Block Beataz productions. The verses are chest thumps; ST shifts into a snarl while he delineates his accomplishments: “Slow-mo since ’04 / 0-11: Money in the Sky Tour.” The whole thing feels like a paean to G-Side’s accomplishments; one imagines it was recorded in the midst of or after an exhausting, successful tour following this year’s massive The ONE...COHESIVE.

As victory laps go, it’s serviceable. Like most of G-Side’s music, it’s triumphant and joyful and emanates warmth. It also hints that we might see an ST solo record at some point. Or a mixtape, at least. We should look forward to this. He is, after all, one of the best young rappers around, and even in a tossed-off shit-talking session, his voice is captivating. His flow is like a riptide: powerful, agile, and strangely physics-defying. It would be interesting to see if he could carry a project by himself, and what, precisely, it would sound like. No such endeavor has been discussed, but if ST goes Pusha T, count me game.