If there is one way to delineate the uncategorical tangle of the modern St. Louis soundscape, it would have to be built upon the intricate bizarre of charlatans to the uniquely Midwestern craft. Most internationally notable, Smino, who has redefined more than hip-hop and funk, but altogether an idea of post-genre, has made it to music’s apex with a stylistic approach that could have come from nowhere else but the dynamic relationship between the St. Louis and Chicago socio-cultural centers. By order of a few internationally resonant projects and a particularly adept crew of creators stationed in Chicago, something about music as a whole has changed since 2014 – altogether redefined by a short era of instrumentally dominant, hip-hop adjacent projects from around the US. Black Messiah, To Pimp A Butterfly, Malibu, and blkswn set the stage for where American music is today, and in no place has that stylistic approach taken deeper root than the Midwestern scene. 

 

Today, we are blessed with another example of the indefinably robust, but tangibly reminiscent style to which we can only credit its creators and origin. Bari, another St. Louis-Chicago musician who himself played a key role in Smino’s blkswn now turns the tables with a project as blood and bone St. Louis as both of the artists involved. 

 

The Prefix, a three-track EP whose name could only hint at more soon to come, is only kept from being a proper masterpiece by its brevity. By the time its suffix rolls around, there is a chance it finds itself in train with the innovative projects redefining experimental and instrumentally-capable music, and continuing to set the stage for St. Louis’ prominent rise. 

 

Listen to it and be on the lookout for more to come from Bari.