ST 2 Lettaz - R.E.B.E.L. EP Review

Artist: ST 2 Lettaz of G-Side
Album: R.E.B.E.L. EP
Label: Slow Motion Soundz Records
Executive Producers: Block Beataz & Codie G

Less than a week after announcing the breakup of the group, G-Side’s ST 2 Lettaz releases his very first solo project: R.E.B.E.L. (Rethink Every Belief Ever Learned), a solo EP gearing fans up for his full length solo project later in the year. Backed by the always incredible Block Beataz production ST finally takes to the mic on his own for his long awaited solo debut featuring 7 new solo songs.

ST opens up the project with an Intro entitled “Alabama” and then moves onto the motivational “We Are The People” where ST kicks the raps we all love him for:

“everybody talkin’ bout Trayvon, guess they forgot about Sean Bell/
still pushin’ that weight, huh? They crushin us with that bar bell/
being free shouldn’t have to be a hard sell/
somebody gone have to die for it/”

The soulful Block Beataz productions provides the perfect backdrop for ST’s amazing rhymes where he speaks on everything from Trayvon Martin to the government to poverty and drugs. Next up is the lead single from the project “Trill 2 Da Bone.” Featuring a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony sample and haunting pianos ST takes things right back to the street as he weaves a tale about having to take it to the streets to defeat the poverty: “yea a n*gga might smile but it ain’t no fun & games/run the watch, run the chain/anything to stop these hunger pains, I’ll turn the mothaf*ckin’ block into Hunger Games!” ST definitely pays homage to Bone Thugs not just with the sampled vocals but by playing with his flow kicking a rapid-fire flow at times and even slowing down into a harmony at times as well much like Bone Thugs are so known for. ST takes the Slow Mo spaceship back out of the garage on “Space Jam” with one of the more catchy hooks on the EP and then pays homage to all the beautiful ladies out there on “Sunshine.”

On “Dreams” ST does what he does best, spits real, personal rhymes that can be seen as either motivational or educational:

“my mother died on a dark and rainy Sunday/
I was right back in school on that Monday/
cause you know what a n*gga say about that idle time/
and my life is a day if I don’t get out and do sh*t with mine/
had a knack for writing rhymes since I was nine/
would have gave her a million if she would have gave me some time/
but I guess everything happens for a reason/
probably the reason a n*gga ain’t been sleeping/
cause sleepers get dreams, lames get lost/
suckers get dealt with, hoes get tossed/
real G’s get forever/
you just gotta make em remember!”

ST takes us on a journey through his life talking about his mothers passing (as you can see in the lyrics above) to his beginnings in rap (his dreams). The project closes out with a Slow Motion Soundz posse cut “Machine” featuring ST’s Slow Mo family SLASH, Kristmas, & Zilla over the Block Beataz crazy acoustic guitars and thumping bass and drums. All 4 do their things on the track referring to themselves as the “Slow Mo Machine.”

Ever since G-Side really started to get noticed fans have clamored for a ST solo project and have always wondered what that might sound like. With the G-Side split ST is giving the fans just that and “REBEL” is the introduction to ST as a solo artists and an appetizer to what could very well be ST’s masterpiece as he and the Block Beataz seem to be coming into their primes. ST’s rhymes, punchlines, flows, and subject matter are at an all time high right now and he sounds as hungry and motivated as ever. Things could be get very, very interesting this year.