Welcome to Ear 2 Da Sky! Each week, I will be going over topics within music culture and reviewing albums and EPs across genres, eras and artists that are submitted by readers like you, and listeners of my radio show, ear 2 da ground, every Wednesday at 11 p.m. on WHUS 91.7 FM! For this week’s submission, I listened through Santigold’s “Santigold,” album while riding the Red Line bus.
“Santigold” is Santi White’s debut album, released on April 29, 2008. She, as well as this album, used to go under the name “Santogold” before changing the O to an I. This was due to a lawsuit filed against her by Santo Rigatuso, who had been going by the name “Santo Gold” long before White.
Her debut album clocks in at 41 minutes, sitting at 12 songs. She uses this first impression to her advantage as she shows off her artistic and musical range through every track. It’s a mix of pop, new wave, reggae, punk and electronic, amongst other subgenres and niches I may have missed.
She kicks off the album with indie pop in “L.E.S. Artistes.” She writes about creating art for art’s sake and the suddenness of being under the spotlight after being in her own head for years. Around the time this was written, Santigold had moved to New York City, so you can hear her inner thoughts in the chorus: “I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up / If I could stand up mean for the things that I believe,” and on verse two, “What am I here for? / I left my home to disappear is all / I’m here for myself / Not to know you.”
This song was also made as a commentary on those that take up artist spaces with the intention of having eyes and appealing to the public rather than creating for their own desire. The title itself is also a dig at those that try and make everything pretentious, as it may read as a French translation of “the artists,” but it literally means “Lower East Side Artists.”
Track three is titled “Shove It,” and it features Spank Rock. This is another showcase of her genre-blending style. In a 2008 Q&A with Westword, she said the song was about the “propagandist tactics” of the George W. Bush administration, as well as the “power of people and the need for us to speak up.” She repeats the song’s namesake over, chanting “We think you’re a joke / Shove your hope where it don’t shine.” In reference to what “hope” means in the song, she said that it “is just a metaphor for all their bullshit talk.”
Santigold’s self-titled debut album is one that I believe is important to the development of music production. While she isn’t the first person to create a genre-blending album, she created something that was her own. I feel that this album holds value because she is extremely important to the freedom of being weird in music. That’s why we have the Doechiis, the Tyler, The Creators — all of whom eventually have a hand in the creation of “CHROMAKOPIA” — the A$AP Rockys, the Blood Oranges and everyone that’s free within their own respective weirdness.
Rating: 3.5/5
If you want to submit something to my radio show, ask for advice, hear your music on the radio and possibly even see an album or EPs you submitted get reviewed in the paper, submit it here: https://bit.ly/ear2dasky