The follow up to 2019’s uber-hazy Gypsy, Semi Sweet is SToNE’s most accomplished offering to date. The production credits are familiar, as are the disoriented flows, but there’s a tighter sense of songwriting here than ever before. Check it out in full here.
‘High Note’ features one of three credits from frequent collaborator Nephew, his woozy beat makes the track an early standout. When he makes a return on ‘One Bass’, he assists SToNE in creating his most lyrically demented song to date, a Memphis-inspired banger with the same boatload of charisma that we’ve seen from the rapper’s music time and time again at this point. Clocking in at nine tracks and almost half an hour, Semi Sweet is the longest, most fleshed-out set of tracks from the Texas rapper yet. Every track features an evolved sense of melody, and the project as a whole sports impressive musical diversity. It becomes clear in the second half of the tape that SToNE assembly of the tracklist couldn’t have been more meticulous: the production is arranged beautifully, the raps make decent chronological sense, and the listener has a solid idea of who SToNE is as the final song fades out. Highly recommended listening for anyone seeking an ever so slightly unhinged trap project brimming with personality.
– Chris (@108mics)
108MICS 