Top Dawg Entertainment’s rising star, Ray Vaughn continues the build towards his debut EP with the autobiographically charged new single “FLAT shasta” featuring ethereal vocals from Ash Leone.
Reminiscent of Eminem’s “Stan,” the reflective new single features darkly enveloping pianos and strings that engulf Ray’s pleading and open-heart bars around his mother’s tangible struggle with Schizophrenia and drug use while raising seven kids.
The piercing lyrics include the aid of Ash Leone, who sings, “…don’t leave me like the tears that fall from my eyes.” Ray goes on to affirm on the track, “The damage is done, but I keep pouring my love into your a**,” before landing amid Leone’s choral echo of “I’m not crazy, at all.”
The title acts as a metaphor of a soda Ray would regularly consume in his childhood, ultimately not tasting the same after fizzing out over time, like empty promises.