For many artists approaching a song with unapologetic energy and a clear vision takes time and trial, though Cincinnati artist STAIN has seemingly exploded onto the scene with veteran like confidence. He dives into his tracks with ferocity and focus; intent lies within each line. Dubbed Grossboi, the 22 year old artist uses high imagery in his lyrics, describing stomach curling sights and situations, which are married with internal and external observations of inauthentic living and how one must live for their true self. Over the last four years STAIN has been developing a sound reminiscent of the underground’s golden years, with lyrical delivery and cadence unlike any other. While he is surprisingly little known, the quality of his work speaks for the potential he yields.
Intertwining his heavy vocals with high energy productions from the likes of preachernicky, MIDNIGHTSNVCK, and more, he has created his own brand of grimey trap inspired flows unorthodox in content. Though his off the wall lyrics make your skin crawl, they are layered with lines on examining your true self; perhaps implying inauthenticity is ‘grosser’ than lyrics about fecal matter and cigarette butts. No one is safe from STAIN’s lyrical prowess; calling not only listeners and enemies out, but himself as well. He evens a balance of self deprecation and superiority, while maintaining poetic dialect. STAIN found his way to the underground during his high school years the way many did:
“Me and my friends would always like to freestyle and shit for fun, but then I found shit like Odd Future and Raider Klan. I saw how they has this DIY thing going on through the internet, so I figured if I really put in the time and effort I could do it too.”
He found love of rap music with the help of his father who exposed him to acts like OutKast, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. With age and YouTube, he discovered more niche underground acts such as MF Doom and Del The Funky Homosapien.
In 2013 after recording his first real song, STAIN decided that making music of his own could be a tangible dream, “My dad used to play in a lot of soul and funk bands back in the day, and one of his friends from back then had a professional grade studio in his basement and he let me record there. After that I put it on YouTube and started showing people at school, and I was surprised to see that people actually liked. I figured if I can get this type of feedback from them I can make it reach further. The song is actually still on my SoundCloud, it’s the revised version though. The first one is posted on my YouTube in private [Laughs].”
“I actually think when that song hit 100 plays on YouTube is what gave me that real brush of confidence because at the time that seemed like a lot to me. Especially being some local dude [Laughs].”
A common theme in STAIN’s hard hitting lyrics is true self; identifying who that is, calling out your flaws along the way, and remaining true to yourself entirely. At times he seems to say what others won’t, modernizing classic stylings which intend to raise brows, “I used to listen to a lot of shock rap like early Odd Future and old Eminem, and that kinda gave me the blueprint on how I approach my raps.”A call for authenticity from his listeners is what sets him from the rest,
“I try to communicate with my music to just be yourself, and don’t try to hop on a trend to get attention. Like I’m all for trying new things but I feel like there’s a lot of people who try and jump on a popular wave in hopes of poppin up overnight, but having a core sound that’s all you that people can identify you from out of a crowd usually leads to longevity.”
With these principles in mind, STAIN hopes to make a career of his music of his craft while growing as a person and artist, “I see myself doing more shows, and overall just getting better at what I’m doing now. Maybe getting in some collabs with my favorite underground acts right now.” While he is currently working on music with frequent collaborator preachernicky, he is hoping to work with others in the community whose stylings complement his own, “Me and Nick, and CapoFlexx! have a lot of big things in the works right now. I’m also working on things with my own group T.K.G. I’d really like to work with Fukkit or Blvc Svnd. Both of those guys bring a certain type of energy to their music that I really fuck with.”
Though he has remained relatively quiet over the last year, recent months have brought a slew of singles from STAIN, each more impressive than the next. His recent release “Jesus Had a Foot Fetish” introduced the arrival of his debut project Profanity which will be released in late November; become acquainted with STAIN’s lyrical absurdism beforehand.