For just over a year now, the Brockton, Massachusett's collective of Van Buren Records has been on something of a roll. What's even more exciting is that the set is only just getting started. The timeline is the testament as rapper Saint Lyor now marks the last in a string of official debut projects from the group of five. This week, Lyor has delivered on his If My Sins Could Talk EP, and on it, he artfully balances his moral compass as he packages his transgressions into unforgettable hooks and convenient bangers.
As has been the case with all of Van Buren, Lyor settles into a penchant for dressing up his vices and turning them into commodities laced in replay value. Just as easily as he equips listeners with vain quotables: "If you don't know my name by now, go ahead and ask yo bitch" ("Aliens Exist"), he's already settled into more pensive territory: "When I was younger I never had faith cause I couldn't relate to none of my idols," ("Sinnerman").
"A lot of the records I’m speaking in vanity and just embracing some of the darkest parts of myself and turning them into these fun, high-energy songs," he tells Vanyaland. "People enjoy these songs, I enjoy making them, but I also understand the messages I’m sending out in my music and how damaging it can be from a moral perspective. But it was important for me to get this off my chest and let my sins talk — acknowledge that I am sinner, embracing that side, and then moving forward.”
Enjoy If My Sins Could Talk below.