R&B singer Tone Stith broke into the mainstream with a pair of co-writes for Grammy award winning singer Chris Brown and has since gained fame with his own releases and collaborations as a solo artist. Stith first started out with the teenage R&B trio SJ3. Through SJ3, he released ‘The School Years’ in 2011 and gained industry attention with an online cover of Justin Bieber’s “Heartbreaker” in 2013. The R&B singer also co-wrote on Brown’s Platinum selling album ‘Royalty’ with the songs “Make Love” and “Liquor” which hit number 3 on the R&B/Hip Hop charts in 2015.
Now the artist is making his own hits and a name for himself in the industry through RCA Records. Stith released an album on June 11, 2021 entitled ‘F*** With Me’ which is a culmination of sophisticated songs for a mature audience. He then followed that up with another album entitled ‘Still F*** With Me’ on October 15, 2021. The project is 7 songs long with an estimated listening time of 23 minutes.
Stith and Brown teamed up for the first single off of the project entitled “Do I Ever”. “Do I Ever” starts off as a sample from Boyz to Men “Do I Ever” then transitions to a calm song that would remind you of a Drake type song from his ‘Take Care’ album. I must say that this song is very much a banger that should be heard. These two voices coincide together perfectly and it does not seem like a competition between the two. Both were able to showcase their vocal talents and they were on the same page with their verses which makes the song make practical sense.
Stith decided to switch up the tempo somewhat with the song “Perfect 10”. It is not my personal favorite, but it is a good dancing/grooving type song which is interesting for an artist that is not known for his dancing. I can say this is a song I would play if I’m cleaning the house on a Saturday or on a long drive across the country. Another song that caught my attention was “I Don’t Wanna”. This song is interesting because it is not your typical R&B song. It could go for a Hip Hop song as well depending on how you view it.
I think Stith was really going for something different than his usual music because he really made it hard for the listener to put him in a box. He really displayed his versatility on this project and it definitely paid off.
