Stogie T Details Upcoming EP, ‘Shallow’, Dropping Mid-March

It’s been ages since Stogie T dropped a new body of work. Ever since dropping ‘The Empire Of Sheep (Deluxe Unmasked)’ in 2020, he’s been dropping IG freestyles and a few singles, including collaborations with Chinese Man.  

His upcoming 6-track EP is titled ‘Shallow’ and is inspired by the 80s, an era that Stogie T says was intriguing to him growing up in exile. The fight against apartheid was at an all-time high. “But at the same time, we are filling up stadiums with Brenda Fassie,” the rapper said during a live recording of his conversation with The Sobering on Thursday night. 

Sonically, ‘Shallow’ is synth-heavy, which is again a homage to the 80s when disco and bubblegum were vogue. It makes sense why ‘Shallow’ comes with a remake of Brenda Fassie’s ‘Too Late’ which Stogie T and his band performed after the podcast recording. 

Lyrically, Stogie T continues to explore the beauty and the ugliness of our world. The word “juxtaposition” came up a lot during the conversation. Breaking down the concept of the project’s single ‘80s Love’, he mentioned that that that “Winnie in a perm love”, 

“that visitin' Madiba in a cell love” he raps about in the song was wholesome but the caveat is that they still got divorced. 

That’s quintessential Stogie T; he caresses you with beauty just to turn around and slap you in the face with a dark plot twist. 

“In this country,” he said, “we are watching… you are watching someone living their best life; ribbon on the Mercedes Benz, Gucci shopping spree, million followers… we all watch that, then when you put your phone down, you look around, it’s like no toilets, it’s dark out… all I see is ‘juxtapose’…”

He mentioned that the project explores what living in such a contrasted and contradictory world does to our mental health. 

‘Shallow’ is out mid-March.