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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