Let’s time travel real quick. It’s early 2011, I’m 19, front row at College of Charleston’s homecoming concert and starry eyed at the show’s opener, a baby faced ball of energy who went by Righchus. Back then his lyrics were high energy and age appropriate, hyping the crowd as we prepared for the show runner to make his entrance. I’d really been into the SC art scene for a year or so at that point, but I had never seen anything like him come from our soil. It was magical, and I made a point to follow this man’s career because I know a star when I see one.

Fast forward to 2018. That baby faced boy is now a man who goes by Matt Monday. He’s been signed, relocated, on tour with big name artists and made a home for himself back in his beloved 843. With that comes the time to rediscover not only what this city has evolved into, but himself as an artist. Out of that time came Filthy2, Monday’s self written self produced EP.

The EP, 15 songs flowing into each other seamlessly, breaks the day into 3 parts: Morning, evening, the late night hours. It takes the listener on a journey not only through this singular day but more importantly, through Charleston as a young creative man navigating life. Tracks like Look Ya, Charleo and Stardust pay homage to the city’s lingo and the landmarks that attributed to his childhood, while Had A Thing and Find the Words, featuring SC songstresses Sunrhe and PoppyNative respectively, walk you through his ideas of relationships as he morphed from boy to man.

Also noteworthy are the features from Florence native Anfernee, who not only lends to some of the project’s background adlibs but quite possibly the most impressive vocal performance with his falsetto on Kelly’s Interlude.

The project finishes with two of the most profound tracks, Prophets and Deadly Octobers, and they truly bring the EP full circle. For those of us long time fans, it brought Monday full circle as it seemed to chronicle not only this day that he writes of but his journey as an artist, and as a man. The opening tracks are more carefree, upbeat and light, transitioning into the deeper darker tone that rounds out the EP and ultimately sets the stage for the Matt Monday we’ll be getting from this point on. By the end, we feel as though we’ve grown with the character, and received a sort of time lapse into the life and times of Matt Monday.

All in all, I can say this is a complete and enjoyable body of work. There are bops, slow jams, flex tracks and the lyricism that Monday is known and loved for. Not only do we get to see him as a rapper, but with we get to see him flex his skills as a producer who knows himself enough to create quality work. It’s definitely worth a listen and a replay or six. If you’re really feeling it, you can go to filthy2.com and cop that custom limited box set handcrafted by Fletcher Williams III (do your googles!) to hold a little piece of Charleston gold in your home forever. Again, it’s worth it.