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Southpaw

 Oh shit. Ivy Sole put out a new EP in 2020. I first heard of her when she was on Kinda Neat (podcast) in 2017..immediately after hearing her on the pod I ordered her 2016 debut, Eden, on CD. She can spit, sing and is beautifully poetic with every breath that comes out of her mouth. On Eden's All Mine, Ivy Sole notes, "Ain't no second coming of Lauryn I got bigger hills to climb, no disrespect but it's my time". I can only assume that early on Ivy Sole was, justly, drawing many comparisons to Ms. Hill because she's such a poet who can seamlessly dip between rap and R&B/soul with her relaxed flow and alluring voice. Her new EP Southpaw comes out swinging (after the 21 second intro track) with the title track. The beat is aggressive and Ivy Sole comes hard to match the intensity. Next up, Kismet, is more of a burner with a laid back flow and beat and features a bangin' guest verse by lojii. Track 4, Bittersweet, is once again laid back and dips into Ivy's more soulful sound. Name It is a sleepily soulful track which finds Ivy Sole singing for the entire track. Closing out the album is Heavy, with a slightly jazzy beat. Ivy's delivery within the verse's is very close to spoken word, during the chorus she flips to singing. The mix between spitting, speaking and singing on this release is fantastic. 

 I really enjoyed the above EP. I didn't eat a bag of chips tonight so I decided to go back through previous notes and couldn't find something that hit the same positive tone as my take on Southpaw. So...

Ruffles Cheeseburger. Eww. They taste like late night cheeseburger Doritos. Maybe char broiled burger in the background. There might be some faint pickles int he background. Maybe a bit of sour cream and onion...I don't know. They taste like what I assume feet taste like, but slightly worse. Luckily these are limited edition and since they've been in the salty cellar for a minute they're probably no longer available. The chips are standard mini ridged mid crunch ruffles that taste sort of like formed chips.

In summary; Ivy Sole fantastic. Ruffles Cheeseburger, hard pass.   

Stay hydrated,

marc

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