Hip hop is in the midst of a musical zeitgeist, with the rise of EP’s (and LP’s containing fewer tracks and clocking in under 30 minutes) as valid artistic projects rather than just stop gaps between full-length album releases. This means no more skits or filler tracks. Everything has to hit harder to make an impression. In the “Attack of the EP” series, we will be exploring the best hip-hop EP’s and short albums released this year.

Rap and hip-hop culture, for many years, was located in the coasts. As other places became valid breeding grounds for serious hip-hop artists, including Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and even Minnesota, there still seems to be a scene vacuum in the Midwest. Of course, Detroit was put on the map with Eminem and continues to develop its sound through Danny Brown and others. But that is still largely localized to that specific city. What is Midwest rap? What is the sound? What is the culture? On his newest release Faygo Baby EP, Cleveland native Kipp Stone throws his hat in the ring to represent the answers to those questions. 

Faygo Baby is a grimy slow-jam with boom bap leanings and sparse, surrealistic synth lines. Stone invites in several other producers on the project, including Static Selektah. But the best tracks were self-produced. 

The EP serves as a lyrical diary of Stone’s life in the city. At times it’s reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar on Damn. Stone comes out of the gate on “Manic” with the bar, “Staying optimistic is exhausting.” Dude, we hear you. On “Get Myself Together,” he balances an optimistic outlook “gotta get myself together” with a tragic portrait of life that he’s witnessed “This lady across thе street, she getting her ass bеat, it’s teddy bears on the curb, it’s bottles of Hennessy, that’s how we say RIP.” Part confessional, part story-telling, Faygo Baby walks the line of hardened vulnerability, as evidenced on the song “Faygo Baby:” “Underage, puffin’ haze in the bando, eyes glazed like a honey bun, free lunch and a chocolate milk, hard-knock life, we adopted it, then adapt, graduate with a doctorate.” Stone also offers up some braggadocio, claiming “Bitch I’m a vibe (Tahoe ’95).” And he’s not wrong. 

Faygo Baby is a cohesive project with a common sound and theme that draw the tracks together well. But it’s not redundant. As a rapper, Kipp Stone changes up his flow enough throughout to keep things interesting, and musically each track brings its own unique flavor.

In a recent interview on the Dad Bod Rap Pod, Stone claims there are a number of Cleveland artists getting ready to release hip-hop projects this coming year. If that’s true, then Midwest rap might find an identity and Cleveland may become a city to look to for hip hop. At just under 25 minutes, Faygo Baby EP makes a statement: that Cleveland has some serious talent and should be watched.

You can connect with Kipp Stone on Instagram, Twitter, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp, and stream Faygo Baby EP on your platform of choice. 

–Alex Dye