Article by Chuck Trash
We needed a tape that continued to expand the sound of Chicago and break genre boundaries to keep this booming scene exciting. Enter, up-and-coming local rapper Saint Icky, accompanied by the organized mayhem of the EP’s producer, LoveZone. Just in time for Valentine’s Day 2017, this duo came together and produced a riveting new addition to the local rap canon, unlike any of it’s predecessors. On the new EP, “Heart Shaped Box”, Saint Icky’s versatile rapping is complimented by the refined sounds of darkness in LoveZone’s production. The project is nothing short of a game-changer.
Though the common themes of heartbreak, loneliness, and sex echo throughout all four tracks on “Heart Shaped Box”, Icky’s unique and sporadic flows show an advanced creative persona at work. The flow, born years ago by the artist formerly known as Sticky Ricardo has slowly been developing into a futuristic sound with a dark aesthetic. On “Heart Shaped Box”, he delivers like never before in his young career. For the first time, Icky has retreated away from self-production in order to focus on his delivery and lyrical progress — to say that this is noteworthy would be something of an understatement.
Right from the beginning, Icky states “Odds are stacked against us, for real”, followed by “You already know how I feel about you”. With this line, Icky sets the precedent for the rest of the EP, inviting us to dig deep into his emotional life. While he hits flows flawlessly and in complete control over LoveZone’s eerie and heavy production, he manages to throw in a slew of memorable one-liners and confident quotable lyrics.
This release is tough to box in, even while ignoring the lyrical content and focusing just on the general sound of the record. Part of this is because it is mixed really well, but more importantly, it takes an overwhelming amount of in-depth listening to appreciate the many varied layers on the beats on this record. LoveZone’s production is more complex and vastly different than even some of the most established producers in mainstream rap today. LoveZone is lucky to have found such a unique rapper to accompany his indescribably explosive ‘rap’ beats. One couldn’t have made this project without the other and it is tough to attribute the perfectly-executed and cohesive sound of this EP to one of these artists more than the other, which in my mind is the mark of a good partnership. Rather than limiting themselves to heartbreak or love clichés, Saint Icky & LoveZone have created a genre-bending EP filled with a wide variety of emotional awareness and even more so, artistic growth. If anything, the biggest mistake made by the duo was limiting themselves to a four song EP.
