SiR - Her Too Review

As the troubles continually present themselves in TDE's camp, what with false release dates, poor decision-making, selective promotional tools, and inconsistent marketing, an interesting "what if" may emerge years from now in regards to what could've been. The infamous West Coast Hip-Hop label started out so strong it would be foolish to say most of it wasn't luck. With the members of Black Hippy all releasing good to excellent albums in such a short time span, the notoriety of the label that housed them rose to levels the leaders, Top Dawg, Dave Free, and Punch, weren't publicly prepared for. As Kendrick Lamar continued to excel to a stratosphere all the other TDE members combined couldn't reach, each successive addition has received less and less attention as the months have run on. Isaiah Rashad had the benefit of being the first out-of-house signee, SZA the first female. But recently, both Lance Skiiiwalker and SiR have been met with virtual silence. Both released projects recently, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who knew, or better yet, cared. Quick to appease his newly-minted fanbase, SiR has followed up October's Her EP, with Her Too. The six-track project is a rather grounded collection of finely-tuned R&B. But with how TDE has promoted him, and others, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that.

Truth be told, I didn't indulge with Her Too because of a successful marketing campaign, but rather a congregative music website had Sir Farris listed as a member of TDE. I had no clue. What better way to satisfy my curiosity than investigate a project with no extraneous weight of impartial thought. Minutes later, 'New LA,' the EP's first song, was playing in my headphones. Out of the six songs present, it's certainly the best, and also features Anderson .Paak and King Mez, two artists who appeared in bulk alongside one another on Dr. Dre's Compton. They both sufficiently keep 'New LA' afloat, almost too well, drowning out SiR in the process. Couple that with 'New LA's' production, which immediately bears strong resemblance to Drake's 'With You,' which was one of Views' best tracks, and you're left with a highlight of Her Too without the main artist being a contributing factor. This happens elsewhere too, as after the 18 minutes spent with the EP, SiR is still as faceless to me as he was minutes before playing the project. Not necessarily a detriment though, as the sounds and styles found throughout still come equip with plenty of charisma and swagger.

Her Too is a bit frustrating in that aspect, as it's filled with personality, but only those contained in famous R&B tropes. Another distinct instance of unifying different artists can be found in 'Don't Call My Phone,' which finds D'Angelo's style of jazzy production with Erykah Badu-like vocal effects. Marring two individuals like that typically results in a solid final product, and that's the case here too. But again, no SiR to be sighted. Follow-up 'Ooh Nah Nah' features some syrupy singing and an unexpectedly excellent horn arrangement towards the end of Masego's verse, but again has hints of 'Hotline Bling' flying under with its percussion. Then there's 'SUGAR,' a classic smooth R&B room-melter that wouldn't have been a shock coming off of .Paak's Malibu. SiR wears his influences all over his sleeves, only coming out to make a somewhat unique piece with 'W$ Boi.' Surprising or not, it's Her Too's worst track, thanks in large part to an annoying hook that treats repetition as a crux. Not to mention it's entirely jarring around the Soul instrumentation surrounding it. But that's honestly Her Too's worst moment, with five solid to stellar tracks before it. Who do we have to thank though? SiR, or those that strongly inspired the sounds.