Consider this video a reminder that, hey, ST 2 Lettaz’s R.E.B.E.L. mixtape from this past fall was pretty awesome! The first release from Slow Motion Sounds following G-Side’s breakup, it looked back to 2008’s Starshipz & Rocketz, with ST less focused on the Internet victories the group embraced, and then, seemingly, couldn’t climb out from under. Instead, R.E.B.E.L. nods to work-a-day worries and the state of the nation, all the while rewarding the simple pleasures of rapping over goofy samples (Empire of the Sun, Skrillex) — an aspect of G-Side’s repertoire they abandoned as their sound grew more ambitious.
The video for R.E.B.E.L. track “Trill 2 Da Bone” continues this back-to-square-one approach, following ST as he wanders around Huntsville, hustling. See, with G-Side, there was always this palpable feeling that the other shoe was going to drop and they’d return to the kind of life they were trying to rap their way out of, no matter how hard they tried. You get a sense of the strange, frustrating position that ST is in right now when the video jumps between him pacing the streets, backpack slung over his shoulder, counting out bills, and defiant performance footage of him standing on a roof above the city he’s repped, rapping with pride.
One of the final images in the video shows ST staring soberly into the camera. Graffiti to his right declares, “Just let me continue dreaming.” It’s a quick shot, but it best exemplifies Slow Motion Sounds’ feet-on-the-ground, eyes-to- the-sky attitude. ST’s solo album, G: The Growth & Development, is out on February 19.
