thirsting again - SimplyRich (Hiphop) Sharply produced and chock full of ear candy, today we take a look at SimplyRich’s newest 7 track EP “thirsting again”. A Georgia-native now in Los Angeles, SimplyRich is a one-man band, having written, performed and engineered his entire project. He takes a journaling-like approach to songwriting—which is something we’ll dig into a bit more below—expressing his experiences and passions authentically. Following his training in software engineering, “thirsting again” is born out of SimplyRich’s self dubbed “King Era”, marking the beginning of a new chapter in his creative output.

The first thing we notice about the album is how professional the production is. Lush and complex, the beats are expertly put together, with beautiful instrument separation, rich bass, sharp drums and lush centered vocals. SimplyRich runs the hiphop spectrum when it comes to style, oscillating between spitting verses and R&B crooning—very “Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in that way. As far as his particular sound, we have to assume that SimplyRich’s R&B sensibility is inspired by Usher as we get a lot of Usher feels throughout the project, while the beats themselves feel akin to a Jazmine Sullivan album—specifically “Reality Show.”

When it comes to the construction of the songs themselves, that’s when SimplyRich’s “straight from the diary” approach becomes clear as tracks will bend structure to tell the story. While not delving into the abstract, SimplyRich has a unique way of stepping out of your standard verse, prechorus, chorus, break structure to go on little detours in order to flesh out his narrative. He often introduces new secondary melodies in this process, before returning to the core structure of a song, which makes each track feel incredibly fresh. It’s by no means disordered, rather very meticulous, thoughtful and displays a wealth of musicality.

Our favorite track on the record—and to be clear, none of them are a skip—is “I Didn’t Know She Had a Man.” The story of the track is simple, SimplyRich has fallen for someone who he finds out is already committed to someone else. However, the story is anything but simple, as SimplyRich’s lyrical prowess takes you through explicit detail of the story and through his thoughts, feelings and point of view that delve deep and fully unpack the complexities of the situation. Nothing SimplyRich does falls into triteness or vapidity, rather he luxuriates in his emotional journeys, turning over every rock for gems of insight.

“Curiosity” leaves Usher to the side in favor of some serious Maxwell vibes as SimplyRich journeys into his head voice for this sultry R&B number. “Need + Want”, the album closer, is also a standout, particularly with all the lush doubling, harmonies, call outs and vocal punches that make for an impeccably produced affair. SimplyRich also stretches past his core R&B sensibility in “drought”, which moves closer to crossover pop. His rap flow gets highlighted on “BAG (intro)” and “White Toes”, the latter giving us early Timbaland/Magoo in the spit—”Up Jumps The Boogie” era.

In the recent landscape of retro R&B on the rise, we’re lucky to have SimplyRich as one of its disciples.