Baby Prince drops 7-track EP ‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’ showcasing his ever-growing musical potential

We spoke to Baby Prince about his new EP ‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’ – breaking down the story behind each track and uncovering what the future holds for the growing hip-hop star.

Brisbane’s Baby Prince dropped new music last Thursday, blessing his followers and fans with a much anticipated 7-track EP entitled ‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’. In a chat with WAEVZ AU, Baby Prince speaks on feeling happy and relieved with the release. “[I feel] kinda excited but also nervous too. I’ve been working on it for almost two years or so and its finally here.”

The East Coast rapper says the EP has been in the works for an extended period of time due to his ever-growing collection of unreleased songs. “I’ve had maybe four or five versions of the same project because I’d have it set and then make a new song and I started feeling that one more, especially when you’ve been holding onto them for a while.”

The title ‘Spriteschool’ symbolises two main things for Baby Prince. “‘Sprite’ stands for money and sound. I grew up listening to Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Future… those types of artists. ‘School’ is about personally learning my sound, but also about progression and expressing that through my music. I just put the two together.”

BETTY CROCKER

‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’ commences with the track ‘BETTY CROCKER’ which features a quick-paced beat settling in a fusion of trap and hip-hop. The full-bodied bass is introduced, and Baby Prince comes in with the first bar of the EP, “Bitch I’m hot”.

“‘BETTY CROCKER’ is about a girl. Every song I make is based off experience, so it’s a girl and she’s got a sister and her sister is kinda fine too. It’s being caught in that predicament of knowing you can’t really do anything, but you still have a lot of stuff going through your head. It’s also just a turn up club song.”

NO MOLLY

“‘NO MOLLY’ is kind of like my strip club joint,” Baby Prince says.

This track starts off mysteriously with a slow trap tune, heavy bass and an intentionally indistinguishable voice in the distance singing the key lyrics. The drumbeat comes in as Baby Prince raps, “Check check / Baby girl that ass too fat”.

“When I was making the project and when I’m making songs, I kinda try to make a song for a specific thing. ‘NO MOLLY’ is kinda just booty shaking vibes I guess,” Prince explains.

Photo by @baelystrahl

COPACABANA ft Creed Tha Kid

Baby Prince brings the laidback island vibes with ‘COPACABANA’, a bright song that is difficult to resist dancing along to.

“‘COPACABANA’ I made a week after I signed to Warner and it was just like a celebration, I guess. It’s an island type of vibe and trying to relate back home because in Zimbabwe the dance music is the number one genre, so I tried to mix that with my style too. It was a dancey kind of song. This might be one of my favourites on the project. Either ‘COPACABANA’, ‘MONA’ or ‘BLACK & OUTSIDE’ might be my favourite joints on this project.”

At 1 minute 50 seconds, ‘COPACABANA’ surprises listeners with a total switch. The vibrant synthesised notes and drums evaporate, and the track completely slows down and mellows out. There’s a gentle pause where the song becomes peaceful and echoes Baby Prince and Creed Tha Kid’s voices in the distance. Creed Tha Kid vocalises before the beat drops and he begins to sing, “Got no time left for games / Think I’m ready for trust”.

“I’ve known Creed Tha Kid for something like four years now,” Baby Prince explains. “It’s pretty much just working with your friend, you’re having fun and at the same time you’re working. It’s just enjoyable, just a regular day and we’re like ‘Let’s make a song’.”

Baby Prince discusses the immense value of having chemistry with another artist. “I feel like you make better music when it’s like that. Every time I work with Liam Thomas, there’s no pressure to be like ‘This is a work thing’, we just chill and make stuff. It’s the same with pretty much everyone on this project, that same type of vibe. The only song that I made with a feature in person was ‘MONA’, all of the other tracks were just through emails.”

MONA ft Mason Dane

Similar to ‘COPACABANA’, ‘MONA’ presents a colourful beat with almost pop influence, coaxing listeners to dance. “’MONA’ is about a pretty girl. It’s kinda like a call out for love.”

Baby Prince sings the light-hearted, sweet lyrics, “My little spicy hot samosa / She pretty in the face like Mona / I wanna show you emotion”.

Baby Prince and Mason Dane have worked together many times in the past, with their emotional and romantic track ‘Pretty Pearl’ gaining the most traction so far, having earnt over 420,000 listens on Spotify. ‘MONA’ invites both artists to be romantically vulnerable with Mason Dane’s first line in the song being, “You can’t lose me / Yeah I’m here time after time after time / Baby bring it back to me”. The chorus chimes in, “You’ve always got a place to go / You’re mine / You’re mine”.

Baby Prince speaks on making music with Mason Dane. “All the songs we’ve made – I think we probably have around 10 – we’ve only made two in person. The rest is just emailing it in. It’s good, but it’s kinda different working with Mason, he’s more hands on. Same with Creed, I feel like when it’s time for their part they know exactly what they want, more than the average artist when it comes to a music standpoint. It’s cool, half the sessions I’m learning something new.”

NO ENGLO ft Khi’leb

‘NO ENGLO’ immediately kicks off the track with a suspense-fuelled build up of the rap beat. “‘NO ENGLO’ is the straightest rap song on here. It’s more of a swag joint. Some of lyrics are: “Police wants some info / don’t speak no englo / worried ‘bout my kinfolk…”

The production of ‘NO ENGLO’ is clever and layered with a variety of sounds, examples being the hard beat, a dog barking and clapping sounds. Moreover, Baby Prince admits he strongly connects with music in the rap genre, a facet which is fully on display on ‘NO ENGLO’.

“It’s kinda just like a swag out song and is so different from the other ones. I feel like the rap stuff is more what I’m about, so I like doing those kinds of songs. It’s different because everyone is doing melodic type of songs.”

Khi’leb’s verse fits effortlessly with the classic rap track. “Khi’leb and I have a few songs together – we’ve got maybe 10 or so. When I work with Khi’leb it’s mainly just straight rap songs and it’s hard. I think I want to do another project where it’s just straight rap and I’ll have to get Khi’leb on there for that.”

SHAKE ft BLESSED

‘SHAKE’ adopts a superb rap sound and debuted on the launch of Baby Prince’s EP as an accompanying music video. The track is the third collaboration between BLESSED and Baby Prince following their 2020 track ‘Dollar $igns’ and the anthemic ‘DOWN UNDER’ released earlier this year ahead of BLESSED’s ‘AUSSIE BLACKSTAR’ album.

“This one is around a year and a half old. Originally, I just made the hook on the beat, and I kind of just sat on it for a while. I didn’t really like it for a minute.”

The track begins with delicate synthetic guitar plucking, which is shortly joined by deep bass. The catchy hook commences and Baby Prince raps, “Wait / Shake / Pretty little bitch gimme face”. One lyric shows love to Mason Dane as he says, “Real bad boy like Mase”.

Baby Prince says he ended up sending the beat and his hook through to BLESSED. The Sydney artist delivers both vocally and lyrically on his verse from the very first bar, “Wait / Wait / I’m trying to slide like skates”.

“He sent through his verse, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll do my verse then’ and patched it up. We did the music video a while ago as well and been sitting on that too. ‘SHAKE’ is another strip joint with straight rap. I like this one a lot.”

BLACK & OUTSIDE

‘BLACK & OUTSIDE’ pulls focus on the mistreatment and murder of African Americans in the United States by police officers, but also touches on the hardship of being a person of colour on this planet.

“This is more a conscious type of track, and I made it during the George Floyd case in the US. It was about being proud of where I’m from. I’m not really a political guy but if I feel like I need to speak out or get something off my chest, that’s what I do the music for.”

The lyrics coherently portray Baby Prince’s feelings as he sings, “Revenge is on my mind / Been through some hard times / Black and I’m outside / Black and I’m outside”.

‘BLACK & OUTSIDE’ is far more gentle and slower paced than the rest of the tracks on ‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’, encouraging listeners to concentrate on the words being spoken. “This was a conscious song about police brutality and everything that was going on in that period of time and is still going on now. This one is the one I want people to actually fully listen to.”

After breaking down each track from ‘Spriteschool Vol. 2’ we asked the talented Brisbane artist which song he’s most exhilarated about performing live and what is next for Baby Prince.

“I’m most excited to performed ‘BETTY CROCKER’. It’s the most hype, turnt one and that will be so good live. Whenever I make a song, I kinda just imagine what it would sound like on stage. That’s 90% of why I make certain songs – for shows. That feeling is just unmatched, being on stage.”

“My next plans are either ‘Spriteschool Vol. III’ or I might do a more R&B type of thing. I’ve got a few of those in the vault but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve got some more shit on the way so stay tuned.”

Words by @livdaangel