With a title like 'Insecure Ice,' Prime Szn's Debut EP insinuates a winding tour into a trove of introspective R&B classics, with the odd trap-house 808 garnishing a track or two for an added booming dynamic; and you'd be close with the speculation, but not quite.
As the song's embellished chaperone takes listeners through a seven-track collection of the Michigan-bred Rapper's first ever releases, Prime Szn zig-zags between narratives tipping more on the edge of flirtatious and salacious then on insecure and fleshy.
The title track and opening number, "Insecure Ice," is an intoxicating smooth-ride through Prime's turbulent relationship, sketched into reality through a pastiche of contemporary R&B aesthetics, as if Travis Scott was performed a rendition of a timeless classic from the early 2000s.
It's a song that fits the EP's fleshy and insecure protocol with an aim at the eponymous title, locating Prime inebriated by the pain of heartbreak, and left feeling incomplete amongst his relationship's turbulent crash.
When you diving into Prime Szn's Debut EP, the notion is immediate introspection and melancholy before a detouring left-turn propels listeners into a not-too-distant relative to heartbreak: lustful passion.
It ends up being a common topic, with a song like "Bounce," swanking over a minimalistic trap beat festooned with chipper hi-hats and a resounding melody, while Prime Szn deduces with provocative coitus-centered narratives enveloped around a soft bouncing booty: "that ass bounce, lemme feel that shit, shake it with an attitude, I 'ma deal with it."
For the most part, when he says "deal with it," you know what he means. It's a topic Prime Szn seems to center on through this EP's playback. Especially throughout "Now Or Never," where he drops an ultimatum about taking vows and not giving chances, or "One Last Time," where he pleads for closure through lewdness, and it ends up defining this newcomer's debut as a record provocative for its club-banger productions and sex-related gyration that lead tangled among a vulnerable R&B-nostalgic twister of melancholy and distrust.
More so than not, Prime Szn's deep-rooted fleshy and insecure nature boil-over sometimes, landing in more cherubic pop-nurtured sonics, where Mike D corrals over a plethora of vocal harmonics unitedly in support the twinkling pad-garnished track, "For You." It's an outlier track compared to the rest, standing as the most prismatic and radiant, centered around the Michigan-bred rapper's escapades with boo, synergizing over Mike B's panning R&B vocals, for a kaleidoscopic effect that ends up blending with how marvelous it all comes together.
Both Prime Szn and Mike B's voices collude together to infatuate over their songster impersonations, and it renders-up extra-blithe, almost enough to produce the scantiest sensation of liberating.
When listeners swim past the salubrious amounts of witticisms and straight forward sexuality, "Insecure Ice" is a journey that makes stops at its intended destination points of introspection, love, and lust—all bow-tied in productions of amalgamated R&B and Hip-hop goodness.
With its reserves of vulnerable golden flashes with songs like "Insecure Ice," "For You," and "Bounce," Prime Szn pulls off a clean and cohesive debut.
What was your process of curating "Insecure Ice's" playback? How did you make sure one song's narrative flowed into the next?
To make sure “Insecure Ice” wasn’t going to be a disappointment to myself, my team and I sat back and made sure every song had what we look for in music, such as a nice Flow, Clarity, and something we can kick back and catch a vibe to. As far as making sure one song's narrative flowed into the next, we kind of made the “Insecure Ice” EP something simple. To kind of showcase how many different styles I can do, we just threw the 6 best songs we had completed at the time on the EP. For the most part, the first 5 songs have something to do with a female, in one way or another. The last song “Bounce” was a song we put at the end of the EP, leading into another single or even into the Next Album to let everyone know I can also make some club bangers too.
What was the most troublesome song on "Insecure Ice," for you to express your insecurities and introspections over for everyone to experience?
To be honest, none of the songs were really hard to create. I just hear a beat, find a topic/song title, and start writing. I will say the song “Insecure Ice” was the most real song I wrote on there. It was also the easiest because it came from the heart. Everyone who’s been in some type of relationship where there boyfriend/girlfriend doesn’t/didn’t make them feel like they’re enough can relate to this song. Long story short, if I feel secure with you, I’m around you 24/7 in sweatpants or whatever. I’m not trying to get dressed up. If I feel insecure being with you, I’ll throw some jewelry on and be in the latest fashion, just to get the attention your failing to give me.
Can you tell us what sorts of emotions you find yourself channeling into in order to capture the most becoming performances on "Insecure Ice"?
For the most part, my emotions were pretty positive ones such as Happy, Anxious, Turned up. The song “Insecure Ice” is the one I really had to get into my bag to write. Because again, that was the one that came from the heart. Writing this, it brought me back to the times where I felt lonely, lost, and really just felt non-existent. “One Last Time” was another song that came from the heart at some point or another. During a break up at one point in my life, I could care less if she and I got back together, but all I knew is I was trying to knock her down one more time before she left. Again, whoever has had that boyfriend/girlfriend where it was the end of y’all relationship and there wasn’t anything y’all could do to fix it, but all you wanted to do was smash one more time, this is the perfect song. “Automatic” “For you” “Now or never” and “Bounce” were songs I could just hear the beat and vibe with it.
What has to be the most significant learning experience behind the recording process of "Insecure Ice," and how do you feel you've grown as an Artist since the E.P.'s inception?
The most significant learning experience I’ve captured during the recording of “Insecure Ice” was to not go to the studio unless your 110% focused. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to record all 6 of the songs even though I wasn’t feeling it. If you go to the studio and record something and if your delivery and timing aren’t there, then it for sure won’t be reflected in the song, which means it doesn’t matter what you wrote down it won’t sound good. For example, you can say the hardest metaphor or bar just talking into the mic and I’ll sound garbage. Or you can say the weakest bar ever, but have the delivery, timing, and passion behind it and it would go crazy! I say that to say this, Imagine how hard that metaphor or bar I mentioned would be if it was said with some delivery & timing on the beat! & you’ll only get that if your 110% focused.
What sorts of milestones have you set out for yourself as an artist for the remainder of 2020, and how have you been inching towards achieving those goals thus far?
Being that 2020 is about 3 months away from being over with, at this point I'm just trying everything I possibly can to get my music out there to be heard. Since the “Insecure Ice” EP came out, I already completed another EP on top of recording numerous songs weekly.