The Fundamentals: The Lost Gems Listening PArty

As an artist I’ve always wondered what famous people did with the art they didn't release to the world. What if Michael Jackson had a better album than Thriller? What if Lauren Hill had a better album than The Miseducation? Jay-Z doesn't write, instead everything comes off the top of the dome. Believe me he has too many great verses to just pick one. But what if he had a better verse that he forgot? These questions do linger, but luckily Steph Simon has answered this question with the release of his new project called "Lost Gems". 

Steph Simon is a hip-hop artist from Tulsa, Oklahoma that has continued to push the culture forward in ways that many would've considered crazy as an idea, he has always had the knack to make those ideas a reality. From throwing the biggest hip-hop festival in the Southwest called DreamLand Festival, to helping 50-plus artists be signed to the prestigious MoTown Records, to creating a hip-hop course curriculum that allows him to work with younger artist in high school and middle school. That's only scratching the surface of his community work. As an artist Steph Simon, has put out multiple projects that have defined the Tulsa sound and encapsulated its history. He's also appeared on numerous songs and has performed on almost every stage in Oklahoma. So, when an artist of this stature says that he has music that didn't make the anticipated album "All Roads Lead to DreamLand". I began to wonder what was he going to do with these unreleased tracks? That's where the album "The Lost Gems" was birthed.

The Lost Gems is a 10-track project that clocks in at only 29 minutes listening time. There are 7 credited featured artists in the project's tracklist. An interesting note about the track list is that out of all the featured artists, there is only 1 Oklahoma artist on the album, and that's Dolo Loco. Furthermore, there are no World Culture Music members featured on this project, which is really unusual, sort of similar to Benny The Butcher dropping an album without one single Griselda member on it. Is it a crime? No. But is it unusual? Yes. But to give context that this is more of a compilation of songs and not a true album gives us a little hope that there may be another World Culture Music album one day. (side note: "What Would Jim Do?" is no longer on streaming)

We also had the pleasure of going to the listening party for the project that was held at Silhouette Sneakers & Art, the same place that Steph shot the video for "Built Different". Let's sit with this a little. A listening party. What exactly is it, and what makes a successful listening party? The answers, in my opinion. First, not everybody is invited. It's not a place for socializing per say, it's a time to get the tastemakers in the room to have a truly transparent interaction with the art. The tastemakers include the bloggers, the newspapers, the podcasters, the publicists, the djs, the radio djs, the club djs, the radio program directors, A&Rs and other music executives. This isn't a time for you to have all the homies, every single rapper in the city, the social media influencer who posts funny videos, the streamer whose content is about gaming, the TikToker that does dances. The former is what will get your music played, and the latter might play you.

The experience is also supposed to be interactive. It should be a two-way interaction where the artist plays the song, but also gives space for feedback, which will also be data for the artist to maybe tweak the album or use for future releases. The listening party is as much for you as much as it is for the tastemakers. They get to listen to music early enough in the hopes that they can craft content for your up-coming releases. They also get to see trends happening real-time. Lastly, this helps tastemakers continue to build trust with their audiences by showing why they are tastemakers and the fact that they get into exclusive rooms and have these VIP experiences that the regular person wouldn't and put their necks out for why the listener should spend their time and money with an artist. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

The Lost Gems Listening Party. Let's get into it. What made Steph Simon's The Lost Gems Listening Party so memorable is that he is great at storytelling and he's great at performing. Both of these strengths he leaned into by A, telling stories behind the tracks and how they were created, and B, by performing either a verse or a certain part of the song such as the hook acappella, this brung the words to life, and often was like relistening to the song through a different lens I noticed myself catching things I didn't in the first listen. Also this was my first listen to the album, I wanted to go in truely unbiased and be able to experience the album for the first time through a new purely objective perspective. Let's get to the album!

The Album Cover
Some might thing that album covers don't matter anymore, I can assure you that they mean more now than ever and Steph Simon has always been intentional with his. The photo for album cover for "The Lost Gems" is from the DreamLand fundraiser game from March 23, 2025 that was held at the Tulsa Driller's Stadium. This field is important not only to Simon, but to the community. A community that neighborhood kids would use to play games such as football or kickball in, the then empty field. But also, it is believed to be where the bodies of the Black Wall Street Massacre are buried. Now the field is built over by the minor league baseball team's stadium called, Tulsa Drillers Stadium. But on this day that same community reclaimed it for them as they competed in a kickball game with Steph Simon taking the mound as one of the teams' pitchers.

The Interaction
The interaction of the Listening Party started with of course the people, the free food, the free drinks. But also came with the music. dj noname. who set the vibe with a crazy setlist of curated music that only added to the anticipation of hearing the new album, dj noname. continues to be a name that is respected and one that is apart of the Tulsa sound from his musical family linage all the way to the music he is creating now. Another great interaction was the art installation of Simon's lyrics. This is the ultimate form of vulnerability and was basically like reading through his journal where there was the good, the great, and a few diss tracks that the world may never see. 

Let's not forget, the interaction with Merch, this was something I also appreciated. We're literally coming here to support you, the artist, so why not have merch there as a second way for people to support you. That might be exclusive merch or first looks on merch that won't drop until later. Steph Simon did this very well with an assortment of t-shirts, hats, buttons, and stickers. There's only one other artist that I've seen sell merch at their listening party with a more curated feel and that was PG Louie who had a custom candle called "Creed N' Candy" that felt a part of the marketing and vibe of the album. More artists should have merch at their listening parties. And as an independent artist, really you should always have merch on you. The last interaction that really set Steph Simon apart was the fact that he had a Google Form that asked listeners questions specific to each song on the album. such as; What's your overall thought for the specific track? What stood out most about the track?

I encourage you to fill it out the Form and let us know some of your answers:

The Lost Gems Listening Party Form
 
The Music Please
Now let's get to the music. The album started out with Keep Diggin which is motivational and a great starting point for the album. It's Steph Simon in reassurance of his position and the values he's practiced. The featured artist Dometrius, has a soulful voice that becomes sort of an internal conscious for Simon, encouraging him to continue moving like he's moving, because he's so close to hitting gold. I really like the song.

The next song is of course "Built Different" (read our review here). Simon has put on a masterclass when it comes to promoting a single, and continues to push this song like it just came out. The social media impressions and user generated content from the single alone has shown the song's impact, all evidence of a well-executed on the marketing campaign, and also shows that it pays off to stick with a single you truly believe in. But I can't help but to think, it would be a total loss of momentum if this song wasn't also on the "All Roads Lead to DreamLand" anticipated album from Simon. Hopefully, Simon recognizes. It's the radio single, it's the one that gets the listener in the story and anticipating hearing a familiar sound, "Built Different".  Also, the video is sooooo dope! Just watch!

The 3rd track on the album is Fundamentals. The song is as good as the story behind it. Simon had been working on music with the famous West Coast producer Blaqthoven who's worked with every major West Coast hip-hop artist known such as Snoop Dogg and E-40, Kurrupt, even Talib Kweli. And uncle Charlie, yeah that's really his uncle, Charlie Wilson. So as Simon put it, he made a song with Blaqthoven that he wanted to get Das and Kurrupt on, but unfortunately this was the same time that the two were beefing, so it never happened. But God always has a funny way of laughing at your plan because he already had His plan in mind, that was put into motion when Simon did a show in OKC with Jabee and Mistah F.A.B, who is a bay era legend, the result, Fundamentals. What Steph Simon wrote down on paper as a goal had morphed into something that was better than he could've expected, also Simon told how he felt like he is the Mistah F.A.B. of Tulsa, so there were a lot of synergies in these two being on the record together.  

The song itself is a call back to getting back to the fundamentals of hip-hop, of which Simon has always been a student of. Simon raps about pushing back against the algorithm and getting back to making good music. Mistah F.A.B. is back to the fundamentals of bars and lyrics and regional sound. One of my favorite bars from the album is when Simon raps, "Probably catch me posted by that Mid-K, I think's that's why so many rappers out here dropping mid-tapes". It explains the fact that music back in the day had to be good, because in order to sell your music, people had to like it. Now all artists have to do is to come up with one catchy bar, or one hook, and you can get millions of streams from a TikTok. But chasing that one viral moment has come at the cost of good music and lots of horrible music. Or even worse, music that you only know that one viral part. You might as well create jingles if your goal is to go viral. Because to make real music that lasts, you need the Fundamentals!

If you're familiar with Simon's music than you know that the Black dollar has always been a part of his messaging and this tape was no exception. Big Fish is a track that promotes the black dollar circulating amongst the community and showing that everyone can eat, even a Big Fish in what others may consider a small pond. The featured artist AJ Snow talks about taking risks for a bigger profit as well as investing. Steph Simon's has always been a quarterback of the DIY movement, so when he mentions Jeff Blake, it was the perfect comparison, Blake was a an Black quarterback who played for the Cincinnati Bengals, and has the record 92-yard touchdown pass in a Pro Bowl game, while Simon has been throwing hail mary passes his whole career, and scoring more often than not. The last feature on the track is Jayson Cash another California artist who had a great line about realizing that his first time he flew out of LA was actually a connecting flight in OKC, the world is truly that small, especially to a Big Fish.

If you're from Tulsa, then you immediately recognize the early 2000s Tulsa sound that comes from the track T.A.N. the acronym stands for "Tulsa Ass Nigga". The song pays homage to that Tulsa era where artists had a certain draw in the way the said things, the shops that people used to shop at, such as Big T's, and the accessories that was work, such as hoop earrings or basket earrings, Jordans, and the iconic Herringbone chain. Also, the rodeo culture that people didn't run from, they ran to, many putting the rodeo culture in their music as well. Simon also chose not to have the track mixed and mastered as to stay true to that Tulsa sound, he noted the nasally Tulsa flow that he even incorporated into his verse. Not to mention the featured artist that is so Tulsa, Dolo Loco. He lets you know all that comes with being a T.A.N. "On Me". 

Nothing New is a track produced by long time Tulsa producer Papa. During the listening party Simon mentioned that he draws comparisons to LaRussell, but also he says he's like E-40 because at the point that he entered the rap game it was going through a pivotal shift, social media had yet to be created, so for him, his timeline gets lost with many people approaching him as a new independent artist without knowing that he's been grinding for years. He also mentions this as one of his favorite songs on the album which I can see why. It's real talk and real flexing, or as he says, "I ain't on these murals for no reason".

 You might remember Lil Wayne and Drake had a song called BB King, Simon's bodies the beat just as much with storytelling and metaphors that punch through each bar. "Line it up like a Keezy Kut". Simon continues to immortalize his homies in his bars and takes listeners on a journey through his lens. He just wants his blues like BB King. Also, I have to mention that you know you're important to the culture when rap juggernauts Jabee and Chris "The God Mc" Cain pull up. It was like 3 Kings, truly a moment for hip-hop!

Time For A Hard Truth...... The track Tell Me. I'm not the fan of. It's a love song that felt forced. The vocalist's performance on the track could have been stronger. It felt more like an in the shower performance than a man singing about love. The energy was so low and mundane. It's missing the passion. I think it's Steph's own vocal presence and lyrics that literally saves the track. I would like to see the singer either redo the vocals or bring in a stronger singer using this as a reference track.

Think of Some Ways is a track that signifies that Simon has figured out how to tie all of his entities into a self-sufficient machine rather than stand-alone businesses that he hustles continuously to keep going. His anchor begins with the DreamLand Festival that helps gather funds to help grow the other entities such as TMC Records and other school programming. It's also a realization that he is similar to the hip-hop pioneers like KRS One, that will open the doors for the kids to make millions even if that means he might not fully see the millions himself. He will help the kid in Monroe that will be able to see his vision through, that's legacy. And within that, like JAy-Z said, "I’m over charging niggas for what they did to the Cold Crush". This song is Rapanomics!

Gotta Eat is the last track on the album. Steph Simon sounds hungry on this track, the youngins would say he's rapping like the rents due. But he has already said the rent's paid. Simon mentioned the track was written while riding the Blue Line train in Santa Monica, it would be there that he would ride bikes on the beach. It was also on this train ride that Simon saw a naked man, and that's when he had the sobering thought that life ain’t bad. Also, it was on this hour-long train ride that he actually wrote the song to 4 different beats, before choosing this one produced by Blaqthoven. My interpretation of the production is that it's really busy, it's hard at times to track where to anchor your ear to because of the competing vocals, instruments, and tempos. As crazy as Kanye is, he's good at stripping beats down and finding places for emotion over drum patterns. I wanted more of that emotion to come through on this track. The lyrics are there; the emotions aren't.

To throw a listening party means that you have to have a few different elements. The right people, the right interactions, and the right equipment. I think Silhouette is a great place, but I did find that even sitting close to the speakers that it was at times hard to make out the lyrics. Bass is important, but it's more important during a listening party to be able to hear the lyrics. I think that could've been executed better.  There was lots of great activations. But also I would've liked to see a few more djs and radio personnel there. But this may just be a practice run before the real album drops. I think the Google form was genius, not only are you collecting feedback but you're also collecting another contact point that is outside of the social media machines. Direct to customer. That's the answer. The final goal is to get people to listen to the album, and from everyone I polled they did. The last goal is to get those people to create content to get people to listen to the album. That's what this is. So, mission accomplished. That's what makes a good listening party. 

I do suggest that you listen to The Lost Gems. It's a great album.  And it's streaming everywhere!

I also encourage you to fill out the form. 

​The Lost Gems Listening Party Form​