Sarah Violette, fka Essence, is an emcee from Portland, Maine, who has been carving out her own path since the beginning of the decade. The last time we heard from her was just about a year ago, when she dropped her Anxious Love EP. Now she comes back with a different look on another EP, Pay No Mind.

It’s always interesting to see an established artist step out and try something new after they’ve established a certain style, which is exactly what Sarah Violette is doing on this EP. For most of her career, Sarah Violette has been rocking an underground East Coast boom bap style of hip hop that has suited her very well. On this EP, though, she’s stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something different. Working with producers such as Classixs Beats, she’s shifted into a more modern sound, putting together melodic trap EP that sounds like it could easily be played on contemporary radio. There are a few key differences with Violette and those you might be currently be hearing on the radio, and that is that she has fully formed choruses with great hooks to them, which she then pairs with some real lyrical depth, whether she’s getting personal, political, or both. The point is that Sarah Violette has always been a complete emcee, understanding that it’s about a marriage of style and substance. As long as the substance is there, trying different styles is going to work a whole lot better than those who just chase whatever is current. With Pay No Mind, it’s more like Sarah Violette is out to prove that it’s not the current style that’s the problem, it’s just that it’s not being done as well as it could be. Just allow a dope emcee to hop on and spit some biting political commentary such as on “Burn Down,” with B. Aull, and you get a sense for how good pop hip hop could sound right now.

Sarah Violette has been making great hip hop for a while now, and with Pay No Mind, she’s showing everyone that she’s not content to rest on her laurels at this point in her career. She’s still challenging herself and her listeners, trying out different approaches to her music and pushing everything forward.