STS is an emcee from Philadelphia who is best known for releasing a full-length album with RJD2 back in 2015. This time around, he’s paired up with Khari Mateen, a multi-instrumentalist and producer also from Philly, best known for his work with The Roots, contributing to the string of albums from Game Theory through undun. Together, they present Better on a Sunday.

A few things become apparent as you listen to this album. One is that Khari Mateen is very talented, and can really take his music in numerous directions, from rock to soul to funk to hip hop to gospel, just to name a few, and he can really lay down some nice grooves. However, when you make an album with a collaborator, you’re only as good as you partner can be, and STS holds Mateen back over the course of the album. Of course, if you’re familiar with the album STS made with RJD2, this is the exact same problem that album had as well. STS has a lot of charisma on the mic, and he can come at you with different deliveries and some interesting flows, but when you listen to a full-length album from him, it just becomes very clear how little substance he has a lyricist. Sometimes, it can be cringe-worthy, such as on the really, really, ill-advised “Fake News,” that just sounds topical in the worst way possible. Let’s just say that there isn’t anything close to a smart discussion about the state of journalism in our country. Instead, there’s just a really basic and un-clever attempt to use the phrase to talk about a woman’s friends gossiping about STS. It doesn’t even come close to working. Most of the time, the problem is that STS is just a very immature lyricist, and for someone who spends the majority of his time talking about women, his views haven’t really progressed much beyond the level of your typical teenage boy. It’s not the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard, but there aren’t any smart discussions about love, relationships, or sex to found anywhere close to this album, either. The best you can hope for on the album are a couple of songs like “Waffle House,” which are just fun enough that I can enjoy how good Mateen’s production is without STS completely ruining it.

In a few short years, STS has had the opportunity to work with some extremely talented producers, and in each of those cases, he didn’t rise to the occasion and make those opportunities count. Until he proves he can deliver something more to his lyrics, I don’t think another name producer should waste their talents in working with him.