It was 8 P.M. the Wednesday before last when I knocked on a nondescript door in Downtown Oakland. A moment later I was shaking hands with ST Spittin, a lyrically able rapper from North Oakland who has slowly but surely generated a buzz in the New Bay scene. Nick Lucero and I followed him into the narrow hallway of a studio that was bereft of everything but the bare essentials: a Maschine Production Studio, a Macbook, a couch and a recording booth fitted with soundproofing foam. De’La Musik was sitting in the producer’s chair working on some vocals ST had just laid down; while we were setting up our interview equipment, ST went back into the booth to perfect the song. Perfectionism and the desire to give the listener his best music was a constant theme in our lengthy interview with the young lyricist.
***
what’s the larger message of your music?
ST: Man… I feel like it’s not one statement or nothing or a slogan, but I feel like I’m a living representation of if I can do it, you can do it. I feel like I represent for the average person who ain’t a saint, who ain’t a thug. I’ve
allegedly sold drugs,
allegedly… Know what I mean? I went to school… I’ve done some stuff that people might consider as part of one crowd. I’ve done stuff that people consider square, some stuff that people consider gangster and I just put it all into one person. I’m not trying to be that, it’s just life. We all go through a lot of stuff, and I feel like not enough artists talk about everyday stuff. They’ll either only talk about the good side of this or just the bad side of that. I don’t want to be just a downer but I want to be an awareness person; I don’t want to just talk about partying but it’s cool to have fun. I just feel like that as optimistic as I want to be with my music, I’ll also let people know that I’m from Oakland and I’ve definitely gone through some ill stuff. It’s a crazy balance sometimes just trying to get it all in, but I think people are going to take away from my overall message differently. It’s going to be something real whatever you pull away though.
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