Stas THEE Boss, best known as one-half of the futurist rap and R&B duo THEESatisfaction, bops through a string of breakups on her self-released solo album S’WOMEN. Pronounced “swimming,” and billed as “an aquatic explanation of failed female companionships,” the 11-track project is a meditation on Stas’ knack for falling out of love that follows her 2014 Stas For Hire instrumental EP. S’WOMEN is buoyed by nostalgic sample selection, Stas’ post-Digable flow, and a collection of innuendos that deliver bravado and honesty with ease. The project’s narrative, however, is disrupted by frequent returns to the well where she pulls from the deep black aesthetic that defined THEESatisfaction, whose 2012 debut awE naturalE and 2015 follow-up EarthEE positioned the duo as the feminist star children of Missy Elliott, Erykah Badu, and Audre Lorde. Though infrequent, the places where S’WOMEN falters ultimately become a testament to Stas THEE Boss’ growth, which remains imminent but incomplete.
S’WOMEN is the fruit of three failed relationships in as many years. At points cold and cocky, at points vulnerable and introspective, the project is a meditation on getting it wrong. Stas doesn’t consult the “please baby, please” handbook of R&B to secure a do-over, she gets things off of her chest like they’re extended riffs on angsty text message threads. Though Stas obviously grapples with disappointment, she is also resigned to diplomacy—the odd ways that it can fill the divide between estranged lovers.
Vocal distortion, playful harmonies, and rich basslines mingle with cheeky samples that show her love for bogle-ready basement party anthems. Stas speaks with impressive fluency through the music that has spoken to her through her life, like an encyclopedic recall of the jams of her youth. She checks another girl for being an opportunist over a mesmerizing sample of Nina Simone’s “Don’t Smoke In Bed” on “Solo.” Echoing Simone’s sentiments, she fashions curses into salty pleasantries on the clear star of the album. “Bummer” sports a flip of Wreckx-N-Effects’ “Rump Shaker.” “Before Anyone Else” and “Melt” are derived from Missy Elliott’s Supa Dupa Fly standout “Beep Me 911,” and Erykah Badu’s “Other Side of the Game,” respectively. The latter is propelled by Stas’ search for a suitable partner, which comes with a warning that her bite is much worse than her bars; “You been waiting from the get go/[...]Scary at my best so you should never let your fret go.”
Deviating from her infatuation with the otherworldly, S’WOMEN eventually brings Stas back down to earth to navigate her feelings. But the way she crowds the production makes it difficult for the heart of these songs to be made plain. She plunges into familiar territory with references to the black cool and ancestral memory that girded THEESatisfaction’s catalog. “Melt,” “Gon Phishing,” and “Diamond Doris”—a cool nod to notorious jewel thief Doris Payne—suffer when Stas acts upon the urge to reiterate, despite her dating woes, how authentically black she is. Like her talent, her identity is never in question. Her measurable growth, however, is. While Stas is consistent across S’WOMEN, it is not clear that she makes a sustained effort to ditch her comfort zone. Transformation was not the stated purpose of the project, but a bit of sonic bravery and tighter storytelling would have made the final mix that much more refreshing.
