Huntsville, Alabama-based rapper-director and former gas station attendee Stephen "ST 2 Lettaz" Harris is fording a solo career of his own after the recent demise of his Country Rap group, G-side, who managed to release 5 Hip-Hop albums between 2007-11; R.E.B.E.L. EP was announced along with SPIN's "break-up piece" @ the beginning of September and released nearly a week later online Sept. 17th. R.E.B.E.L. stands for "re-think every belief ever learned" and it seems like that's what ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova decided to do after 10+ years of teetering the underground/mainstream Hip-Hop circles. For new-comers like you and I, R.E.B.E.L. EP seems like a perfect place to start. It's a project that I was actually tipped off to by Tom Breihan's latest [excellent] "Mixtape of The Week" review. Clova seems to be piddling away @ a solo career, too... He's formed his own label imprint (Lambo Music), working on a mixtape called Pablo Picasso, still cutting hair @ his barbershop, and is plotting some sort of mp3 release program.

Block Beattaz's fine-tuned production work manages to sturdily anchor the mixtape, sampling everyone from Beastie Boys to Pink Floyd! Even further left-field samples pulled from Empire of The Sun and Skrillex are cleverly utilized to create album stand-outs like "WE ARE THE PEOPLE" and "SUNSHINE;" Essentially forcing ST 2 Lettaz to slightly alter his cadence so that his flow works over the Dubstep/Dance-tinged beats. While @ times, it plays out like a loose concept album, R.E.B.E.L. EP seems to detail the story of a guy trying to get out of the hood (the struggle). The commentary-assisted "Director's Cut" Instrumental EP is also available for download from Bandcamp - Block Beattaz's insightful commentary really adds a whole 'nother level of dimension to ST 2 Lettaz's smooth tracks! It seems like the chances of G-side reuniting in the future are highly plausible... Take it away, ST 2 Lettaz: "Not saying it will never happen again, but right now, we're just two grown men focusing on ourselves. As artists and as men." (SPIN)