In today’s age, technology has flooded our lives with content. Caught in the mire are today’s musicians who champion an art form that’s more widely distributed than any other throughout human history. And we, more often than not, overlook the music created by unfamiliar faces because it’s challenging. We’d rather have an easy listen, a known quantity to skim through while we think about something else.
Hearing is easy, but listening is difficult. Welcome to “Why We Like It”, where we rebuke the trends in favor of thoughtful analysis and underknown sounds.
“Nothing But Love” Ft. J.Lately & Kristina Urgel — Stevie Ray
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How We Found It
28-year-old Bay area rapper Stevie Ray dropped his new single, “Nothing But Love,” into our SubmitHub inbox and immediately stole my attention with the back home, good time textures of this slow jam. When times are uncertain and worries are plenty, we could all take a little lesson from Ray and remember we’ve still got all the love we can give.
Why We Like It
It’s easy to get caught up in the fast pace of life. Trying to catch all of the opportunities and moments that fly past us is our futile attempt at maintaining the illusion of the control. Songs like “Nothing But Love” by Stevie Ray break that illusion, reminding us how little we control by making us appreciate the things that we do.
I been told I’m broke, I got nothing but love / But what you got don’t put you above me / You got everything / except for what you need / It’s love, oh it’s love” – Stevie Ray, “Nothing But Love” (2020)
Ray raps about the stresses of money and life with a carefree cadence that makes it seem as if all the problems in the world couldn’t hold his mood down for long. It’s his confidence, not just in love received, but love given, that puts the bounce in his step and the smile on his face each day. Accompanying vocals from J.Lately and Kristina Urgel are gently layered within the simple drum and guitar production in a way that gives the track a nostalgic texture. I’ve never felt more strongly tied to a place I’ve never been and a life I haven’t lived than when the single’s hook rolls smoothly through my headphones. Maybe that’s just what Stevie Ray intended. “Nothing But Love” is just a small taste of the positivity and freedom that comes from living with an abundance of love.
From Stevie Ray
Love is love is love man. It’s seeing and being seen, hearing and being heard, accepting and being accepted. It’s like a tribal thing. You look after your people. You share the problems and the victories. And it’s abundant. I really believe if we could realize that we are all in a global tribe together we could make the world a much better place. All that possessive shit is built on a false premise of scarcity. We can all love infinitely if we’re willing to be loved infinitely.” – Stevie Ray for CentralSauce (2020)
More From Stevie Ray
For more of the great textures and care-free bars of Stevie Ray stream his most recent project, Free! Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube and check out his website to stay up to date with new music and more.
More to Discover
Subscribe to the CentralSauce mailing list so you never miss out on the freshest sauce. Check out this continuously updated playlist of songs Brandon has added to our Discovery section! Each track or artist has been featured in our “Why We Like It” section, so be sure to check out the page here on the site.
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