Coming out of Utah, Underrated Prodigy is a fresh collective of artists making music, and trying to forge their path into the game. Saint and O-Gio from Underrated Prodigy recently dropped their single “With Me” produced by Feniko. As is almost always the case now, Saint and O-Gio emerge from the Soundcloud rap scene, which has become the genre’s fastest gateway to stardom if you’re from absolutely nowhere. Most of the new breed of young rappers fully understand the power of the internet, and a platform such as Soundcloud, Saint and O-Gio are no exception to the rule.
“With Me” kicks off nicely with gently stroked keys, a sturdy bassline, a thumping kick drum, and a morose, open-ended vocal. It offers a shifting synth pattern under a tight, beat showing hints of a lullaby-esque backdrop. Saint and O-Gio delve into the soundscape with a mellow but determined vocal approach.
Their musical stylings are executed in an introspective but explicit nature, while the ideas themselves sound fresh, exciting and just different enough to a very saturated rap market. In the last few years, emotional rap has become one of the new-age hip hop movement’s driving corners. So it’s not just the flow and the verses, it’s also how you’re saying, what you’re saying.
This is why much of modern emo-rap sounds similar; from Lil Uzi to Juice WRLD, the whining moans are a constant feature across artists. Saint and O-Gio manage to pump some fresh air into the modern rap convention with intrepid rhymes, personal vocal inflections and their own laidback blueprint.
Thematically “With Me” maintains the standard litany of rap tropes that fans of the genre love, justifying any buzz and potentially ingratiating themselves with a broader fanbase that may be less familiar with Saint and O-Gio and Underrated Prodigy’s work thus far.
Rather unpretentiously it doesn’t feel like Saint and O-Gio actually care about any of that on the track, which may actually be the most endearing thing about them. Over the course of “With Me”, it feels like Saint and O-Gio are most interested in serving the music, which is a good thing.
This means the audience will get a better sense of who they are musically, as Saint and O-Gio display an assuredness that suggests they’re well on their way to carving out their own lane. They prove just as adept at the beats-and-bars style of straight up spitting as they are at a chatterbox of one-liners and pop culture-laden punchlines.
Hip-Hop has never been more diverse than it is right now. Artists are becoming more alternative, genre-bending, and unconventional than ever before. Saint and O-Gio really own their style and the environment they thrust the listener into.
“With Me” produced by Feniko is an impressive project from an emerging set of artists who put their hearts into their craft. There are some great vibes on this single that provides an intoxicating journey, exploring matters of the heart and mind from the opposing sides of sex.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM
