Album Review: #SSS

The shores of Tulsa are often calm. Quiet. Unbothered. Except for one surfer named St. Domonick, who with his recent release #SSS has been making some major waves. Short for "Santos Swimming School", #SSS is an inside look into a more braggadocios St. Domonick whose love for 90s nostalgia and culture  can be felt throughout the project. ​

From the first track "Intro" St. Domonick immediately lets it be known that he doesn't have time to be HUMBLE. Which time becomes an interesting part of this project seeing that it's only 19 mins long. It's with these 19 mins that every single word becomes that much more important, and that every song has to be able to stand out on their own. And at the same time everything has to be intentional, yet organic. Just like the waves themselves. But St. Domonick uses this to his advantage and from the first play you can tell that he is out to to prove that he is out for something greater than radio plays or likes. He's going for the THRONE. And to prove this on the track "Intro" he uses a 90's hardcore New York beat and a sick flow to leave no doubt. A track the late great Prodigy would be proud of. He raps: "Yo I'm that nigga that you came to see, like Eddie Kane, I wish it would rain and get these stains off me, because I'm filthy and deranged, you niggas ain't gone eat."

You see what I mean! St. Domonick spazzed out on the track! So I had to hear the rest the track but was quickly reminded that IT COST TO SMOKE!!  

For anyone that follows St. Domonick knows that he is a fan of basketball, so it's no wonder that his track "Kawhi" would be named after the all-star San Antonio Spur Kawhi Leonard whose influence can be heard on the hook: "D that bitch up like Kawhi Leonard..." When listening to this track it became clear that St. Domonick has mastered the art of the "hook". As he uses the hook in this song to be almost like a regular verse by structuring the song in such a way that the hook becomes a main focal point in the song, which is a common theme seen throughout the project. 

Track 4 is strategically placed as the 3rd track of the project. Wait hold up! Yea your reading that right. The track titled "Track 4" is actually the 3rd track on the project. Again the conciseness of the project is deceiving. The album is so concise that I literally tried to convince myself that I was actually on the 4th track. This is a testament to how great the project is in that a person can play the album straight through without skipping a song.

Conspiracy Theory 1: The title SSS has showed up in St. Domonick's catalog before as the 3rd track on his album ORPHIC. Could this be a clue like in that movie Inception and from that track spawned #SSS the album?

St. Domonick also puts his acting abilities on spotlight on his track "INTERLUDE", which also lowkey features a supporting acting performance and background track by fellow Tulsa artist Keeng Cut. Listen as these two have a crazy dialogue about ordering from the TNT Wangs drive-thru and a $32 bill that St. Domonick and friends rack up. 

The project has only one credited feature called 5050 which features fellow CT$ member and longtime collaborator Hakeem Eli'juwon. Hakeem who has collaborated with St. Domonick on songs such as "No Spark" and "Rockin' Pennys", contributes a verse and also spits the chorus. And though these two have two distinct styles, it's easy to see why these two artists work well on a track. Hakeem spits: "I got talent but hard work will surely top it, I took King as an example it was knowledge." 

From the dope cover art, merchandise, to the promotion of this project St. Domonick has set his self apart and created a simple and clean #SSS campaign.

​#SSS is the project that proves St. Domonick has mastered the art of the wave. To an onlooker it seems like the album may be short, just like watching a surfer riding a wave. But to the surfer that's actually inside the wave, all sense of time is lost. Only the Experience matters. And although the project is only 19 mins long it's the experience that St. Domonick is able to create that makes the listener get lost in each track rather than the time. So what's the perfect wave? To a surfer the wave lasts just long enough to want to find that wave again, and to the listener #SSS lasts long enough to want to hear the tape again. So whether surfer or listener #SSS is the experience of what can only be considered as THE PERFECT WAVE!! And finding the wave is the best part of the experience.

So listen to St. Domonick's #SSS and it's entirety here: 
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/santo_vuelo/sets/sss

Also to purchase his limited edition #SSS merch here: www.umbratulsa.com