On May 13, Washington, D.C., area newcomer Steph Castro dropped his first project: The Art of Cloud Hopping, a welcome and well-rounded, if not conventional project that’ll definately please fans of the new “Swag Rap” era.
Steph’s delivery is reminiscent of his peers in that he glides over soul samples provided by producer Moe King, with nonchalance and a laid back attitude that is indicative of today’s emcees.
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The album opens with “Beautiful Struggle,” a song that explores the ups and downs of not only breaking into the industry, but life in general:
Blood in my hands, pain in my heart
vengeance on my mind, yeah I’m having black thoughts
Pourin’ out Ciroc. Yeah, you’re gone, but I still love you
Life ain’t a bitch…it’s a Beautiful Struggle
The song’s foundation is a smoothed production with vocal samples. The song is a great opener as it tells you everything you need to know about Steph: He’s witty, cool and collected and above all observant about the many dualities and ironies of life.
This is pretty much the case for the rest of the album, to varying degrees of success. On “Lyrical Relaxation” for example, Steph rides the beat awkwardly, trying to cram as many ideas into the bars as can possibly fit; sometimes stumbling over the excess. He’s more comfortable on the next cut, “Good Intentions” waxing over the object of his affections with deft timing and wit:
And what I’m looking for is everything you got in ‘store’
Don’t even try you on – you’re the perfect fit I’m sure
You got a youngin’ thinkin’ of…
That cashier love
Come here let me “ring you up”
“No Fly Zone” has an infectious drum beat and a verse that’s probably the closest thing to Steph going hard. It’s at this point we start to realize a pattern.
Is it possible to be too smooth?
“Clear Water Chillin’,” is a track with an accompanying video and a similar vibe. While the song finds Steph at his most lyrically nimble, one starts to wonder: what, if anything, gets this guy’s blood boiling?
He never raises his voice or breaks a sweat. Instead, he resigns to the standard Swag Rap fare of sideway glances, smirking and chuckling at his own wittiness between lines, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If it works it works.
The album is also light topically, with only the aforementioned “Good Intentions” following one specific narrative or subject. Instead, Steph is most adept at lyrically flexing and tearing into beats following whichever path the rhyme takes him.
The Art of Cloud Hopping is rare in that it finds a young rapper completely comfortable in his own skin; there’s no searching for an identity. Steph knows exactly what he wants out of his beats and what he wants to say. This makes for a very cohesive project that can be played nonstop, from beginning to end – also a rarity.
Much of this can also be owed to his producer, Moe King, who lays out an incredibly soulful mosaic of sounds for Steph to glide over.
The album can be downloaded at Steph Castro’s website here. For more information about producer Moe King, click here.
