Saint Pepsi Gin City / Local Singles

In November 2023, Saint Pepsi’s Ryan DeRobertis will share popular EPs Gin City and Local Singles on vinyl for the first time. Local Singles, originally released in 2013, is the follow-up to the ground-breaking mixtape Hit Vibes. Motivated by the overwhelming response from Hit Vibes, DeRobertis made a conscious decision to grow as an artist and began recording original instrumentation atop his signature sampled beats. At the time, footwork was a heavy influence on his music, as made evident on the hyper-rhythmic lead track “Unhappy,” but inspiration came from an array of unique sources. The selection ranges from midwestern emo greats, American Football, to soul and R&B samples from the likes of Ray J and Aretha Franklin.

Though not entirely without sampling, Gin City, released in early 2014, would be DeRobertis’ foray into some fully original material that would ultimately lead to the evolution of the Skylar Spence moniker and 2015’s debut album Prom King. Gin City was the first material written after DeRobertis dropped out of college. This created a sense of urgency and commitment to work especially hard on his music. The title track was made in a night with two good hometown friends, “Mr. Wonderful” was produced during a snowstorm, “Disappearing” covertly samples sounds you’d find on your Macbook, “Walking Talking” is a continuation of sounds from Hit Vibes, and “Baby” highlights DeRobertis’ unwavering love of K-pop.