Miami emcee Soarse Spoken is prepared to take Hip-Hop to the heart. Soarse’s 4-track EP titled “Pretty Dark Summer” tackles the rarely touched on emotion of heartbreak. The EP’s first single “Her (v2)” takes on the topic of heartbreak head on. The project’s lead-off single is an extension of the entire EP.
“I always wear my heart on my sleeve, and this project is no different,” said Spoken.
Pretty Dark Summer is produced by T. Hemingway, Aches, and Mike Deuce and features guest vocals from Afrobeta.
The Real Hip-Hop spoke to Soarse Spoken about the importance of emotion in his music, his new single Her (v2), and his upcoming EP, Pretty Dark Summer.
TRHH: Explain the title of the new EP, Pretty Dark Summer.
Soarse Spoken: The title for the EP, Pretty Dark Summer, is meant to evoke the feeling of a somber mood, but during summer time which is generally supposed to be a happy time in people’s lives. I guess a better title would’ve been “I feel like winter”, but that wouldn’t have the same dramatic effect and, also, summertime plays a big role in the inspiration for this project.
TRHH: Who or what inspired this project?
Soarse Spoken: This EP was inspired by a couple rough cases of heartbreak which took place over the span of about 3 summers for me.
TRHH: Tell me about the single “Her (v2)”.
Soarse Spoken: “Her (v2)” originally started off as a song I was using on a jacking for beats mixtape series I was doing called #FuckItTuesday, where I would just grab a beat I was feeling from the internet that week and would spit some bars over it then throw it on SoundCloud. I started working on Pretty Dark Summer with my friend and producer Mike Deuce at the same time, and the song fit well with Pretty Dark Summer so we put it on there as one of the four songs on the EP. It fit so well, in fact, that we made it the single.
TRHH: Do you find that heightened emotions inspire you more to write?
Soarse Spoken: I do. At this point in my life, I always write better when I’m feeling down or angry or in some sort of somber mood. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a mean or sad dude, I just think my writing flows better when I’m in those moods. I remember a point in my life where being happy made me write more clearly. What a naive, young man I must’ve been [laughs].
TRHH: How is this project different from your last one, Starve the Hunger?
Soarse Spoken: All of my projects are different in some way. I grow as an artist as time passes and with every project I do. Starve the Hunger was an original mixtape I put together to re-introduce my sound to the world, so to speak, after I hadn’t released anything in the four years prior. It is a more boom-bap and braggadocios project full of guest features and head nodding beats courtesy of DJ Sharpsound. Pretty Dark Summer has a focus. It’s a conceptual EP dealing with heartbreak and loss and pain. The prior is also a mixtape style project with like 16 tracks and the latter is a 4 song EP on one topic. Creative and production wise, the two projects are different in almost every sense.
TRHH: On Starve the Hunger you had a song called ‘Pu$$y and Art’ which seems completely opposite from your new music. What was the inspiration behind that song?
Soarse Spoken: Yeah, those are completely different in every way. The song ‘Pu$$y & Art’ and Pretty Dark Summer are just two different mind sets of the same artist. I consider myself a conscious dude, but at the same time I’m from Miami and women and artistic expression is something we hold very near and dear to our hearts here. I was in two different moods when I wrote each one respectively. And, again, ‘Pu$$y & Art’ is on Starve the Hunger which, as I mentioned earlier, is more of a boom-bap, I brag about shit, type project. Pretty Dark Summer has a deeper sentiment. If an artist doesn’t have a wide range of emotions, then I don’t know how much of an artist he or she should consider themselves.
TRHH: Who is Pretty Dark Summer for?
Soarse Spoken: Pretty Dark Summer is for anyone who’s ever had to deal with a really tough break up or loss in their lives. I’ve always found that when I’m in a bad mood and I listen to really somber, moody music, I start feeling better about myself, shout out to Julio Jaramillo and Radiohead. This is my version of that for everybody who’s going through some sad times. Things will always get better and those dark summers you’re going through will start to feel pretty again.