for the love of music
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In a world where attention spans are short and viral superstars are made overnight, Wranq Ramone chose a different path. After impressing us with his debut project Reincarnated in 2017, the Seattle hip-hop artist seemingly disappeared. He went unheard from until 2020 when he broke his silence with the politically charged single, “WTO”, a song that showcased a pen that had been sharpened significantly since last we heard from Ramone. The improvement from 2017 to 2020 should’ve made Wranq’s whereabouts obvious, he hadn’t retired, rather he retracted to a place where he could work on his craft and truly find his sound. Five years after his intriguing debut, Wranq Ramone has finally returned with his sophomore project: Sex, Drugs and Therapy.
On Sex, Drugs, and Therapy, Wranq manages to double down on everything we loved about him from his debut while also showing enhanced maturity and a level of ability that Ramone couldn’t even imagine back in 2017. The project is a lyric-heavy concept album that gives us a look into the twisted life of the Seattle artist through the lens of a therapy session. Ramone explores topics that we can all relate to while simultaneously making the project feel extremely personal at every turn. Despite detailing an abandonment that has nearly become a genre archetype, the song “Bloodline” is still as Ramone as it gets thanks to his exceptional ability to tell stories.
Don’t let the project’s brevity fool you, Sex, Drugs, and Therapy’s 22-minute run time is substance-rich and jam packed with raps that will keep you coming back for more. Prior to the album’s release, I hopped on the phone to ask Wranq him some questions about the project. Our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, follows below:
Spencer Lobdell, StereoVision (SL): It’s been five years since you dropped reincarnated, what have you been up to?
Wranq Ramone (WR): When Reincarnated came out, I had just graduated highschool and gone back to Seattle. I still didn’t understand the music business, none the less who I was as an artist. One day I got called to be in a video with macntaj (Seattle artist), so I did it. Afterwards I was talking to the people that put it on and we got along really well and decided we wanted to work together. At the time I already had another album recorded so I played it for them, it was dope. After we listened to it I went to them like “I’m ready to roll” and they were like “naw, you gotta develop and focus on these steps.” I decided they were right and so we recorded another album. I was making all sorts of different types of music trying to find my sound. We scrapped three whole projects before I felt like I really started to find it.
SL: Who inspired you while you were making this project?
WR: Marilyn Manson for sure. The start of the second track “Undefeated” samples Marilyn Mason at what I think was the 1999 MTV Music Awards. And then honestly, metal. I’m a huge metal head and I would listen to it to calm myself and get a break from the hip-hop. Of course hip-hop too though: Rick Ross, Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, Kendrick Lamar… all those guys.
SL: What story did you set out to tell when you wrote Sex Drugs and Therapy?
WR: So I went through a period, I don’t even really know what happened, where I was just in a really weird place in my life. I had just dropped out of college, I wasn’t making anything at my job, and I got super depressed. One day I was walking, I had just left my house, and a huge wave hit me and I felt like I was going to pass out. I went home and was super sick for two weeks, I even missed a show. In the same week my neighbor above me jumped out his seventh story window which didn’t help my situation. I couldn’t go more than a mile away house, for a second I thought I was probably going to kill myself. I was just super confused about life and my purpose. I ended up going to therapy which pretty much saved me. When I finally pulled out of that depression I knew that was what I was going to write the project about. That’s when I rewrote everything.
SL: You’re always repping your hometown so tell me, what do you love about Seattle?
WR: For me, it’s strictly Pioneer Square culture. My mom ran the Pioneer Square J&M which was the oldest bar in Seattle before she moved to LA and the bar closed. People know me there. People have been seeing me around the square since I was 15. It’s really a community. It’s also a really poor area with a high crime rate which has also inspired me. I’ll tell people, the square will chew you up and spit you out, I’ve seen it multiple times. I’ve seen people die in the square. It’s such a beautiful old place with a lot of history but its also got a lot of really ugly scars which might’ve played a larger role in shaping me than the beauty.
Spencer Lodbell is the co-founder of StereoVision.
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Photo Courtesy of Roc Nation
If you’re tapped into Florida hip-hop, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Bobby Fishscale. The Quincy native has been making waves since he released “Hov Flow” in 2019 which sampled JAY-Z’s “Renegade” and boasted Bobby’s elevated artistry. A year later the rapper would sign to JAY-Z’s Roc Nation and watch as everything he mused over on his 2019 mixtape Big Fish began to manifest into reality.
This November, Bobby released an extremely polished 7-track EP titled The Evolution which showcases a wide array of star-studded features from Juicy J, Quavo, Zaytoven, Mozzy, and Kalan.FrFr. The project is Bobby’s second full EP release following his 2020 EP The Last Re-Up and mixtapes, Super Fishy, and Da Relapse, marking the artist’s continued journey in elevating both his sound and growth in his musical career - which first blossomed with a street hustle handing his tapes out of the trunk of his car in local Florida neighborhoods.
The project starts off hot with the addicting “Make It Snow” where Bobby flexes his innate knack for finding pockets in instrumentals and weaving perfect flows into the song’s fabric resulting in a bouncy track with high replay value.
The second track features Quavo and was accompanied by a great video directed by Ben Marc. In the video, Bobby and Quavo are seen running a fish market where they are hustling to maintain a business that provides for their families. The video switches swiftly from scenes in the market’s snowy freezer as both artists show off their ice, to sleek evening shots of Bobbyin front of one of his many custom classic cars. The music video gives fans a glimpse into life from the streets and tells the story of Bobby and Quavo’s long-held hustle holding it down for their family above all.
“When we created “Huncho Fishscale” it came naturally to both of us. He’s one of the coldest coming out of Florida right now, then we took it to the A to shoot the video. We kept it street. Salute Bobby.”
On the track, Bobby titles himself a certified trapper and it’s impossible not to believe him (“I could get em for Ja Morant and sell em for 24”). When I asked him what his favorite song on his new project was, Bobby pointed to the 6th track. “It’s gotta be Selling The Shit because of how close to that lifestyle I was.” The EP is a quick listen that I highly recommend for anyone who is interested in southern trap.
Bobby was also recently awarded the BMI R&B and Hip Hop Social Star Award just last year, joining previous winners such as the late Mac Miller, Machine Gun Kelly, Zendaya, Joey Bada$$, NLE Choppa, and more. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to ask Bobby a couple of questions about The Evolution and where he’ll go next in his young career. Our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, follows below:
Spencer Lobdell, StereoVision (SL): What did it feel like to get the keys to your city?
Bobby Fishscale (BF): Surreal. Where I grew up has had a huge impact on me as an artist you know. I grew up in the projects and saw a lot but it’s given me experience that got me to where I am today. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. To be recognized by my hometown means a lot. I believe in remembering where you come from as you come up so to feel that same love back from my city was dope.
Photo Courtesy of Avery
SL: Besides Bobby Fishscale, who’s next up out of Florida?
BF: Lil Quezz, Bamm, Boston Richey PPurg, Trap Sosa, 3Jeezy, Jimbo, Bossman JD, Goldenboy, Tafia, Wigi World, Mookboy, KolyP… everybody.
SL: How did the deal with Roc Nation come about?
BF: My dad was a DJ that would hit up and play all the clubs here in Florida, so I grew up around music and always played around with it. A few years ago I sampled JAY-Z and Eminem’s “Renegade” and it just blew up. Hip hop blogs vibed with it and I told myself like, alright let’s cook up some more. I ended up putting together my first tape, Big Fish, a little later and then I started getting calls from all these labels. I wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction to my tape and it moved so fast. That was a real moment for me like, yo I really can take this music thing to the next level. Next thing you know, I’m signed with Roc.
SL: Who are some artists you’d really like to collaborate with in the next two years?
BF: Rod Wave, Kodak Black & Jay-Z.
SL: What does “The Evolution” mean to you?
BF: The Evolution is important to me. It’s a symbol of my growth and hustle so far as an artist. There’s a lot I’ve learned about myself, making music, and life since I first started making music and this project puts it all together. I’ve dealt with a lot growing up and now, to have a project where I get to collab with artists like Juicy J and Quavo is a big deal. It made me think of how far I’ve come and where I’m going - from my music just being a way to tell my story to now creating records that I know are going to be the next hit.
SL: Does The Evolution feel any different to you in comparison to your last three projects? If so, how?
BF: Yeah. This project I think is the most advanced in terms of sound and flow compared to my previous projects. Artists naturally grow in their own individual style as they continue to make music and so far, I feel like I’ve been able to experiment more on this EP. There’s some switch-up sonically that almost blends with another genre in “Rock Session” and we lean into Ink’s vocals a lot in “Own Eyes” to make an emotional track. It’s a pretty diverse range of sounds on The Evolution.
SL: Is there anything else you want people to know about this project?
BF: It’s out now on ALL PLATFORMS!
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Small by Nicky Saxton-Garcia, 2021.
Jamahl Edwards, better known under the moniker Small, is a musician, graphic designer, and photographer from Oakland, California. He released his debut single “SMALL world” in September of 2020 (You can read my review of the single here). Since then, Small has continuously released music over the past nine months. On Valentine’s Day of this year, Small came out with their first album entitled Please Cry 4 Me. It is on Please Cry 4 Me where Small truly introduces the many faucets of their artistry to the audience. An emotional, introspective and genre bending project, Please Cry 4 Me is only the start for what Small wants to do with his music. I had the pleasure to have a conversation with Small about the what and the why behind their artistry.
Kaila Cherry, StereoVision (KC) : Tell us a bit about yourself.
SMALL: My name is Jamahl. I would also like to say that my pronouns are he/they. I’ve been moving in this direction for a while, but I’m ready to solidify this for myself and be more comfortable in understanding my existence as a Black person to be not identified within these white hetreonormative ideas of expression. As I move through this world and try to do these performances of gender, I have tried to move away from the performance of male. Our perceptions of gender roles are fundamentally engrained in white supremacy. The reason why I started there is because I feel like that truly explains me as a person. The first thing I like to say to people that really hits home the point is “I’m a former imperial export turned current colonized subject.” This explains both the conditions of my existence and the context of my art. Because, y’know, art is all about existing and people perceiving existence and expressing existence.
KC: You have previously dabbled in photography, filmmaking, and graphic design. What inspired you to focus on music as your primary art form?
SMALL: The way I want to answer that is to first talk about my influences because they are the reason I got into music. I am a Kanye stan at heart. His influence on my music is outstanding. Growing up listening to Kanye, it’s not just music, it’s like time periods. That’s how strong of an emotional connection I feel to his music.
Another artist who I think is the reason I make music is of course Earl Sweatshirt. I get compared to him all the time. At first a part of me was like “I’m not Earl Sweatshirt, I’m different, I’m Small!” But also it’s like, Earl Sweatshirt is tight as fuck bro, I love it. If you’re applying the same lens you’re using when you listen to Earl as when you listen to me, that’s exactly why I make music. There’s also MF Doom, James Blake, and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver.
Graphic design work by Small, 2020
I make music because it’s one of those feelings where you hear a song and think, “Fuck, I gotta make something like that!” or you see something and think, “Fuck, I gotta make something like that!” As you mentioned earlier, I’m a person who tries to do a little bit of everything. Or a lot of everything, I don’t feel as if I do a little, I feel like I do a lot. They’ll be niggas who don’t even know I make music that’ll approach me with the graphic design tip and I haven’t designed a poster or anything in over a year. Or they’ll be niggas who only know me from photography. It’s very funny the different worlds I build within whatever medium I’m working in.
I think I’ve worked in so many different mediums because there are so many ways to tell a story. And one day I was like, “Man, I gotta make some music.” I’ve been playing music for a long time, but of course playing and making music are two different things. I took guitar and piano lessons when I was a kid but I always hated it. I felt like a nerd and was like “I’m off this!” when I was like 12. But music has always been a part of my life. I’ve always been engaging with it in a sense.
KC: One thing that I noticed while listening to your music is all the ways in which you manipulate your vocals. On some songs, your voice is heavily layered and distorted almost to the point where you can barely hear what you’re saying, like a depressed Playboi Carti. Then there are tracks that are extremely melodic with a pitched up, almost cartoony sound. What inspires you to use voice modulation throughout your work?
Small by Nicky Saxton-Garcia, 2021
SMALL: When I’m vulnerable but I want a sort of shield around me, that’s when I bring in my layers, my modulation, my distortion. Yeah, I’m vulnerable, but there are so many me’s within these layers. There’s power in numbers. It feels like something I have to do, in terms of the modulation. I also think about Tyler and how he modulates his voice for different projects. I remember as a kid reading r/tyler/golfwang and being like “Oh my god! That’s what that means?” and being blown away by the amount of storytelling that pitching a voice can do.
When I pitch up my voice, it takes on its own character and that’s what that means for me. It’s more than just pitching my voice, too. It’s how I say certain things, the tone I have when I rap on certain songs. Different stories are going to be told in different ways. I want people to feel more connected and I want to be more vulnerable, so I utilize different tools to reach that goal.
KC: I admire how your music morphs over time to express different emotions and experiences. What do you mainly want to express through your music? What messages do you want people to take away from your work?
SMALL: My music is my Notes app. It’s like a time capsule, a memento. It’s an expression of “Here’s what I’m on right now.” My music is a part of me, it’s my world. And that’s what it is. I’m building a universe.
An artist I’d like to shout out is Anna Kamp, also known as August Kamp (@guskamp). She is a musician who has helped me and been there with me through my growth process as an artist. We make music together in a band called Nor There. We approach music like an anthology. She used the word first. It’s an MCU but for songs. My favorite thing for artists to do is to easter egg drop a reference to an older track or project. It reminds me of the days when I used to look things up on random Reddit threads or read Genius lyrics to “get it.” I want to build something immersive like that. I want to build a universe of Small.
KC: Let’s talk about what you’re working on now. You have a single coming out on July 2nd. Tell me a bit about that.
SMALL: The single is called “Past Me (Keep My Notes).” I’m working on this album with a lot of people. There are about ten artists working on this project with me in terms of production, being a featured artist, or even just their voice being on the album. But for the most part, this album and “Past Me” was an accident. I recently got access to a good piano to record music on and I was just fucking around on it until eventually, I was like “Damn, I should get people to sing on this.” So I invited my friends over to record and sent them tracks to lay vocals on until I had so many songs that I thought “This is a project. These songs are so good, I can’t just sit on these!” The tracks clearly had a story to them.
The process of putting this album together has allowed me to feel more comfortable as a musician. I’m trying to prove myself as a musician as a whole using different tools in music to make a song. This is the first project where the majority of the songs are just my production and instrumentation, just my musicianship.
The way I think about it is like this: Please Cry 4 Me is me presenting to you my world in a sense of “Hey, this my first project, and this a world that I’m building.” And there are rough patches, and of course that album isn’t as refined as my next one, but it’s still my world. It’s still my presentation of me to you. With my next project, I’m showing you the first celestial object within the universe that the world resides in. But there is so much more to explore.
With “Past Me,” first known as “Keep My Notes,” it’s a song that’s taken around two months to make. A lot of drafts, a lot of sending back and forth, a lot of rerecording, and a lot of time to feel comfortable with how it was developing. I’m proud of “Past Me.” I couldn’t have that song be the last song on my hard drive, so I had to release it. It started with me just recording piano one day. I got a melody and I wrote some lyrics down. With this single and my upcoming album Lunar Touches, like I said, it’s just me being a musician and not feeling like I have to overstate things. I want to let my music speak for me. I want you to feel every note I play, I want you to feel everything that I do. That’s how “Past Me” came about.
The actual song is about losing someone in your life. They have a part of you, and the song is saying, “You can keep that part of me.” Keep my notes, keep the little things I’ve left around you where I’ve made my impact on you in a way. Like my lyrics say, “You can keep my notes/ I left them there on purpose.” It’s insignificant to me, but you can have them. I’m past you, I’m past this, I’m past whatever that was and I’m moving on. Like I said, I’m leaving the atmosphere of my world. “Past Me” can be about a person, or a thing, or a specific experience, but it’s just that feeling of being past certain things while also understanding that there’s a piece of you still there.
KC: You come back to referencing “your world” and “your universe” to describe the space in which you exist in. My last question for you is this: What is your world and what is it like for you to live in it?
SMALL: My world is Small. It’s like a fly-on-the-wall observation perspective. That’s how I rap. I’m observing it all and telling you what I see. For myself, most importantly, and for others secondly. I feel like I have this ability when I become Small to be very attentive and conscious of my surroundings. It’s like that meme from last fall where everyone else is partying and the dude is in the back sipping juice and thinking “They don’t know…” That’s exactly my world. Here are these things that I’m noticing. Here are these things in my orbit. Here are these musicians, artists, and beautiful people who make up my world. It’s hard for me to very distinctly define my world, but it’s Small. That’s my world. It’s also constantly being built. Things are always added, never taken away.
If you would like to join Small’s orbit, you can find their music on Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud. “Past Me (Keep My Notes)” is out now across all streaming platforms. You can further keep up with Small via his Instagram @onlysmallworks. His Twitter, another variation of his Notes app, is a treat you’ll just have to find for yourself. Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow us on Instagram to stay up on the hottest new music:
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