‘Santogold‘ is the debut album released by Santigold. It came out in 2008 and was preceded by the single ‘Creator’. She was know as Santogold at the time but changed her stage name slightly since. A whole bunch of producers were part of the creation of the album, but Diplo is the only one I recognise. The album itself spans several genres including hip-hop, pop, reggae and dub. It’s very out there and alternative, but good.
The album opener ‘L.E.S Artistes’ is my favourite track on the album, and the same probably goes for many people who listened to it. The lyrics are a bit confusing but the gist I get from it is that she’s trying to say ‘I’m here now, watch out’. However, the lyrics are hard to interpret so I could be wrong. There are 3 other tracks that really stand out for me which are ‘Creator’, ‘My Superman’ and ‘I’m A Lady’. ‘Creator’ has a savage intro and a dub sound with a hip-hop beat, with Santigold rapping about how she’s “up on the radar”, She plays the confident and cocky rapper throughout and when you hear it you think OK, sounds cool, but when you read the lyrics it’s a bit all over the place. I like ‘I’m A Lady’ for the refreshing vocals and sound. Though it was not released as a single I think it could have been, and it also would have showed she can change her style. With ‘My Superman’, it’s short and sweet. She’s rapping about someone she considers her superman but also how they started to fade in her eyes. It’s more that the song has a catchy beat and hook that appeals to me.
There is a blend of genres the album which is pretty cool and I’m sure wasn’t easy to pull off. However, apart from the tracks I’ve said stand out, the album kind of plays itself through. You hear the odd track that’s pretty cool, but I think it’s more the sound that stands out rather than the lyrics. The likes of ‘Unstoppable’ and ‘Light’s Out’ sound great, but there’s no real substance to them. I think the lyrics actually fall flat, and that her themes are pretty poor. It’s the genre blending and unrestricted sound that makes the album what it is.
Throughout the album I also found her lyrics kind of muffled and hard to understand. I know this album isn’t for everyone but at the time it was pretty cool. I enjoy it and I do think it’s good but I couldn’t play it back to back. It’s not boring by any means, it’s just not solid enough as a whole to keep you coming back.
G.M
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