STL GLD

Boston based Hip Hop group STL GLD is breathing new life into the genre, though they’re not new to the game. Comprised of rapper/ vocalist Moe Pope and producer The Arcitype, STL GLD most recently took home a Boston Music Award for Best Album of the Year for their sophomore album Torch Song.

STL GLD has been vocal about their stance on police brutality, both in their music and in the press, and you can see this all over their newest music video for “Hold On”. Rendered in complete grayscale, the video gives us a bleak yet evocative look into the stories of police brutality victims, stories we know all too well. Directed by Christian Hardy, the video features Moe Pope as the lead and the STL GLD camp as other characters. The video is arranged into 3 different parts, each representing a different brutality case.

The last scene takes us back to the moment of Philando Castille’s 2016 murder, a moment of collective pain that still resonates heavily in our community. But the video neither sensationalizes nor is gratuitous in it’s rendition of the victims’ deaths. Instead, it serves as a reminder that Castille & Grant and all of the other countless victims of police brutality still have not received justice because our system continues to operate in the name of white supremacy.
“Hold On” isn’t just about remembering the victims of police brutality- it’s a call to action and to resistance. - AFROPUNK

Alt-electro rockers PVRIS took top honors at the Boston Music Awards, winning Artist of the Year and Song of the Year (“Heaven”) for a second year, in addition to a third trophy for Pop Artist of the Year. But for people attending Thursday’s ceremony at House of Blues, the night’s big winner was conscious hip-hop outfit STL GLD, which stole the show in a headlining slot and took prizes for Album of the Year and Video for Unsigned Artist, while group member Janos Fulop (the Arcitype) won for Studio Producer of the Year. With multiple rappers led by Christopher Talken and Moe Pope (pictured), STL GLD ignited heartfelt, topical hip-hop with live guitar and keyboards by Fulop, drums (by Session Musician winner Jonathan Ulman), trumpet and marching snare. Other strong performances on Thursday came from rockers Weakened Friends (Unsigned Artist of the Year) and Carissa Johnson (New Artist of the Year), rapper Answer and the band Bad Rabbits, which won for R&B Artist while frontman Freduo Boukye also took the Male Vocalist award). Julie Rhodes won for both Female Vocalist and Americana artist (in addition to her cameo in STL GLD’s video), while rapper Cousin Stizz scored trophies for Hip-Hop and Live Artist of the Year. - The Improper Bostonian

Ask Roxbury-bred rapper Moe Pope about his latest record sounding overtly political, and he tells a story about looking down the business end of a gun the day before his eldest daughter was born.

At 19, he was riding a 10-speed bicycle home from his landscaping job in Jamaica Plain. A policeman pulled him over; the reasons are still unclear to Pope, who is black. The police officer, he says, stuck his hand in his pants pocket without explanation. Feeling violated, Pope reacted, pushing the officer. He was then ordered to the ground at gunpoint, he says, before being told to wait in the back of a cruiser.

Pope, who did not have a criminal record, was eventually released without arrest. But that experience still informs his view of race relations in modern urban America. “It was an eye-opening experience,” Pope says. “I don’t know how a man is supposed to react when another man is putting their hands on them.”

The following day, his oldest daughter was born. Both rage and joy filled those 24 hours.

That was 20 years ago. And if the most recent effort from STL GLD — a duo consisting of Pope and Cambridge-based producer The Arcitype — is any indication, age hasn’t mellowed the 39-year-old husband and father of two.

On “Torch Song,” scheduled for release on Friday, Pope’s indignation is still palpable. That anger has many targets: police-involved fatal shootings of unarmed black men, a lack of economic opportunities for urban youth, President Trump, and people who are angry at what Pope calls the wrong things.

“I’m pissed off, as I feel a lot of Americans should be,” Pope says. “We should all be pissed off.”

STL GLD (pronounced “Still Gold”) will celebrate the release of “Torch Song,” the full-length follow-up to the group’s 2014 debut, “My Monday Morning Music,”’ with a show at The Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge Friday night.

Where the debut was laidback, “Torch Song” is poignant and aggressive. If you’re looking for lots of levity, look elsewhere. There are two songs with titles drawn from the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a New York City police officer in 2014. On the first of those tracks, Pope implores an unheard police officer to leave him alone over a haunting beat.

“I don’t think there’s many brown people who live in the city who haven’t had some type of bad dealings with a law official,” he says, speaking recently at a North Cambridge recording studio. “That’s not to say there aren’t any good police. Personally, I think there’s a huge disconnect.”

Much of the record is mournful, with Pope lamenting systemic inequality. On “Good,” Pope bemoans materialism, the limited job options for former convicts, and the drug trade. A vocal hook featured on the gospel-infused “Hold On” includes a warning: “One thing we did right was the day we started to fight, keep your eye on the prize.” “Tuff” is a gritty, spitfire requiem of fearing the block you live on, placing faith in a gun, and predicaments in which “handouts are not enough.”

“A lot of this record is about accountability,” says Arcitype (the 33-year-old’s real name is Janos Fulop), who grew up in Stockbridge, studied audio production at Emerson College, and has produced records for local hip-hop acts including Slaine, Michael Christmas, and Avenue. “The message, I think, is pretty straightforward.”

Pope acknowledges this is the most political record of his career, which has spanned 20 years and, including collaborations, 10 albums.

The music, Pope says, was molded during a nine-month period where he was depressed with what he was seeing on the news. He found the presidential election to be draining. He feared the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of police were becoming commonplace enough that people were getting desensitized to their injustice. He grew tired of debating where the burden of proof should be in such cases.

“Torch Song” was his catharsis.

“The times shape everything,” says Pope, who now owns a home in Mattapan. “We weren’t even trying to make this type of record, but we were seeing after about five of the tracks we were going in that direction.”

He pauses.

“It was making me feel better.” - The Boston Globe

If we don’t love us, then we’re lost / If we don’t own land, it’s not ours / I’m here to spread love for all kinds, who don’t want us putting truth in young minds
-Moe Pope on Torch Song

“I was about to go on tour, and we didn’t have a front door that latched. So I called my landlord and said, ‘You have to fix this before I go away.’”

Welcome to Boston, where our most popular and critically acclaimed musicians face the same mountainous hurdles of horseshit that the rest of us endure. Moe Pope continues:

“He was like, ‘OK.’ But then a week goes by and I don’t hear from him. I called and he said, ‘Well, I chose against that.’ Instead of fixing it, he wanted us out, so he chose not to fix it.”

And then the boom …

“We got into an argument, and the day I got back from tour there was a piece of paper saying that I had to leave,” Pope recalls. At the time of this ordeal last year, his youngest daughter was just two years old, making it that much harder to find housing. “I was the super—I mowed the lawn, I fixed anything that needed fixing in the house. We were never late on rent once in 10 years.”

Pope’s temporary housing nightmare (his family has secured a nice spot in Mattapan since) came after he began to pen the most politically critical mark of his two-decade career, which spans from his early work with the Bay Area band Mission, to the acclaimed Boston groups Electric and Project Move, to solo projects with producers Rain, Headnodic, and The Arcitype. As an MC, he’s heretofore primarily reflected on his place in the world, not always considering the weight of hard external factors; but this time out with Arcitype as STL GLD for their second joint adventure, Torch Song, Pope had already raised the stakes when he was pushed out of his crib. The forced eviction just happened to fit with his theme de resistance.

“The other records, I wrote them from an internal place—what’s happening with my children, what’s happening with my wife. Or on my corner, in my area. With my friends,” Pope says. This time, however, the larger shit fire afoot served as a baseline inspiration. He continues:

“It’s different because I don’t know [Minnesota police shooting victim] Philando Castile. I don’t know these people, but if affected me. It broke my heart. People think [police misconduct and injustice in general] is done because they don’t see it on the news every day, but it’s not done. It’s always been like this, but now the world is seeing it. I’ve known about this, I’ve felt it, I’ve been a part of being treated improperly by police, and I think I accepted that we were less. And this is a time to not accept it. This isn’t OK. That’s the only way I can describe it. I don’t usually write outwardly like that.”

The debut STL GLD outing was a smidgen playful, a moody (and exceptional, really, fucking outstanding) album that hit highs and lows with work, life, and party themes while wowing from the verbal feats to beats. For example: Yo, I’m writin’ my name in graffiti on the wall / Hopin’ when I’m gone that my people will recall, my / Letters to the world over beat breaks / Hold ‘em all accountable, especially the DJs.

On Torch Song, a slightly different story. Everybody’s held accountable. This time Pope and his associates are vocal about profiling and beatings, surveillance and incarceration. “I was working on another album,” he says, “and watching Eric Garner get murdered really affected me. We had two songs done for the STL GLD record, and we were taking it slowly, but [Arcitype] started sending me these beats and I started rhyming to them.”

Arcitype adds: “With this record, I would get things to the point where I thought they were ready for Moe. He would write to that, come back, and I would build around that. We did a couple this way, and because they were so underdeveloped Moe had a lot more room to write in ways that I have never heard him write. Moe [used to say that] he was never one for the frills, but I taught him to fall in love with the frills [that were added after vocals were recorded].”

“The beats were skeletons,” Pope says. Whereas in the past he’s often written on the spot, this time he approached each cut more like a long-form reportorial endeavor. Pope continues: “There was so much happening at the time; I would be at home, and something new would happen. Personally and nationally, there was a lot going on. It was a fucked up time when we were making this record, and it still is.”

“Moe has [previously] been lumped into the ‘conscious rapper’ category because he’s always been aware,” Arcitype says. “But aside from the delivery—and I’ve never heard Moe rap like he raps on this record—there is a politically charged element that wasn’t always there, even if there was depth on previous albums.”

As for the sound that Arcitype constructed to propel said mission … “We fucked around,” the producer adds. Pope’s homey, muse, and create mate Christopher Talken punches in: “The tone’s not always heavy though. It’s a conscious record you could put on at a party. The music is dope, but there are things being said.”

“All I really cared about before was rapping good,” Pope says. “At this point in my life, I feel like I have to say something that matters. Right now everyone should.”

None of which means Pope, also a well-known visual artist, has foregone other longtime cares and creative initiatives. The national sociopolitical state of disgrace aside, closer to home he’s still prioritizing the plight of hip-hop in the Hub.

“I’m hoping I get to do some of these rock shows,” he says. “In the last two or three years, live music in this city is nil for rappers. And gospel, jazz—no burn. It’s rock, rock, rock, rock, rock. They’re only booking rock, they don’t want black music in the clubs. Twenty years of music and I can barely book a show here.”

It’s not unlike the bullshit with his last apartment.

“I see all these new buildings going up in JP and all this crazy shit happening,” Pope says. “It’s absurd.

“Anyone can see what’s happening—they want us out.” - DigBoston

Moe Pope, the MC in duo STL GLD, has said he doesn’t want their new album “Torch Song” to be overtly political. Yet the cover features a burning church, and in the first 10 minutes, he takes on the legacy of slavery, police brutality and gun violence. So much for that.

Pope, a two-time Boston Music Awards winner for hip-hop artist of year, speaks from the heart and experience. This means STL GLD’s second LP is full of tough truths: deplorable body counts in cities, contemplation of suicide and pervasive racism. - The Boston Herald

HipHopDX Premiere: STL GLD (pronounced Still Gold)— two-time Boston Music Awards Hip Hop Artist of Year Moe Pope and 2016 Boston Music Awards Producer of the Year The Arcitype— teamed up as a duo in 2014 and since then have been steadily earning a reputation as one of the most exciting artists to watch. In conjunction with the announcement of their sophomore album, Torch Song, the duo has dropped a new video for “Wild Style.”

Crafted by editor and animator Matt Watkins, the visual finds Pope firing off bars fueled by anger and frustration with police brutality over an animated yet aggressive beat. Torch Song drops February 17 and is available for pre-order here. It also comes with an instant-grat track of “Wild Style.” Watch the video above. - HipHopDX.com

In the end, it was only right that last night’s celebration of all things Boston hip-hop be something of a marathon.

Saturday at the Middle East, a host of rhyme-spitters, record-spinners, break dancers and rap lovers descended to the basement of the Cambridge nightclub to dedicate their evening to the past, present, and future of local hip-hop. The 2015 Boston Hip-Hop Fest was, in every sense, a showcase. Over the course of five hours, dozens of emcees from all around the Commonwealth stormed the stage, imploring fans “make some noise” for Boston’s contribution and commitment to the culture.

You can't really define Boston by its city limits. Neighborhood, neighbor town and nearby city packs its own flavor -- accent, maybe -- but "Boston" is really the umbrella of villages big enough to house all our perspectives. Whether it's New England Patriots or Boston Celtics, being from Boston is all about the home team. On Saturday night, at every energy, aptitude and accomplishment level, our hometown rappers shone.

[...]

Mark Merren, who served as host for the evening, as he does regularly at the Motivate Monday series at Church of Boston, threw down for a jam, before giving way to one of Boston’s most buzzed-about groups, STL GLD.

The onstage dynamic between passionate veteran storyteller Moe Pope and producer/guitarist Arcitype was snare-tight. The duo was joined by Christopher Talken, who stepped beyond mere “hype man” duties with guttural, punctuating shrieks whose odd kind of instrumentation took the music to another emotional level. The Arcitype is a co-owner of the Bridge Sound and Stage, the recording studio located right in the heart of the People's Republic where he is also an enginer. Having had a hand in the production of many of the performing musician’s projects, he joined various acts in supporting roles throughout, but it was with STL GLD that Arc very obviously thrashed the hardest. STL GLD should look to the success of underground-turned-festival-fav Run the Jewels and trust that as they continue to grow their sound, so will their reach. - The Boston Herald

Please feel free to hate the Boston Music Awards, but never hate the bands.

People in the scene will always gripe about who didn't win and who wasn't nominated, but the actual BMA party is amazing -- here's a bit about who did win.

Last night at the Revere Hotel in the theater district, 25 bands, DJs and solo acts shook the pillars of heaven on four stages for seven hours. Jeez, man, who can handle that on a Sunday? Apparently a couple hundred people and me (but just barely). OK, the Revere Hotel didn't love rock 'n' roll (they had a logjam at the door not letting people in for a while and booted everyone out the minute the last band left the stage), but damn good night all around.

Here's what I saw; here's what I loved.

[...]

10:35pm – STL GLD: No cowardice from these hip hop champions. In a night full of joy (as it should be), they added some poignancy (as they should have). MC Moe Pope chanted "I can't breathe" to wild cheers. These men bleed their beliefs and their city and make you feel it at every show. Just when you think the night is winding down... Damn these cats killed it. - The Boston Herald

Looking over his discography, you might suspect that Moe Pope has commitment issues. Over the course of his career, the Roxbury-born MC has worked in two groups (Electric Company and Project Move) and recorded full-length albums with three producers — the last of which, “My Monday Morning Music,” a joint project with producer the Arcitype under the name STL GLD, arrived in stores this week. And that list doesn’t include a Depeche Mode-influenced remix album or Pope’s unique live performances with his amorphous backing band, Quills. In short, the guy gets around.

In finding the Arcitype, born Janos Fulop, Pope thought he had the ideal collaborator with whom to shift gears from his recent output. The two met while Fulop was mixing “Let the Right Ones In,” the second of Pope’s two critically acclaimed albums with producer Rain. On hearing Fulop’s beats, Pope decided his bright, clean sound could balance the heavy pathos and punk-rock aesthetic that fueled “Right Ones.”

“He had said to me initially, ‘Look man, I just came off of “Let the Right Ones In,” and that was a pretty brooding album. I kind of want to be happy for a little while,’ ” says Fulop with a laugh, seated inside the control booth at the Bridge Sound & Stage in Cambridge. He and Pope will celebrate the album’s release with a show at Brighton Music Hall Friday.

For a while, it worked: You can virtually hear the dark clouds retreating on songs from their earliest sessions, as embodied by the warm synth tones of “Sunrise,” the euphoric pianos of “Rock Me. Pt. 3,” and “Evryday,” a powerful reaffirmation of community in the guise of a seven-minute improv jam. The music is reflected in the lyrics, favoring a more direct and articulate approach over the abstract imagery prevalent on “Right Ones.”

“I think that I tried to take as hard of a left turn as I possibly could from that record to this one, but still stay true to who I am at the end of the day,” says Pope. He admits that recording in a studio frequented by the likes of Termanology, Reks, Slaine, and other top local lyricists stoked his competitive edge. “I want to be seen as an artist, but I also want to be seen as a really, really good MC. I don’t want people to get lost in that. So if I can mix a little bit of my artistry from ‘Let the Right Ones In’ and come to this and maintain that — I’m trying to be a better MC and get back to where my focus was when I started.”

Like Pope, Fulop had to make his own adjustments in stepping in for Rain. “It was daunting,” he says. “There is this built-in thing of, ‘I’m now the new guy, I hope they like the new guy!’ Because I was a fan of it too, and I don’t want to destroy something that I’m a fan of. That’s kind of a scary place to be in some ways.”

After the initial learning curve was overcome, the pair began to shape the polished sound of their new group, its name a play on a line from one of Pope’s favorite films, “The Outsiders.” Then as Fulop was skimming through potential instrumental tracks, Pope stopped him on one that caught his ear, and started writing. That song would eventually become “Bastard,” a vividly detailed and personal story about an abusive father.

“We did ‘Bastard,’ and that was the song where we felt we had something dope,” says Fulop. “Everything we had done up to that point had been very upbeat and jovial. We did ‘Bastard’ and then it was like, we have to put this on the record, but we can’t just throw that in there.”

“I heard that beat, and I was thinking about something that day, and I wrote about that,” says Pope. “It’s not like I want to tell my story in that way sometimes; it’s just what it is.”

From there, the album’s soft edges got a bit sharper. Reks and Rusty Juxx added their lyrical menace to “Zombies,” while “Overdose” and “Farewell” continue the introspective theme from “Bastard.” Fulop recalls, “It was in one little spurt that we got three or four songs that really changed the record, and it’s because we hit that stride and caught that moment.”

In the end, STL GLD’s “My Monday Morning Music” emerges as possibly the most well-balanced release in Pope’s catalog. Like the day referenced in its title, the emotions the album conveys waver between brilliantly optimistic and crushingly morose, depending on how you encounter it.

“I wanted to do a nice, simple hip-hop record where I’m just spitting and the beats are playing and that’s it,” says Pope with a laugh. “It turned into something else.” - The Boston Globe

I doubt anyone in hip-hop embraces collaboration like Boston’s Moe Pope. I don’t mean anyone in Boston, but anyone anywhere.

On “My Monday Morning Music,” out today, his new project STL GLD (with producer-instrumentalist The Arcitype) cozies up to an amazing array of artists: MCs Dutch Rebelle, Reks, Chris Talken, Fran-P and Anonymous, members of Bad Rabbits and Tan Vampires and indie act Tea Leigh. - The Boston Herald

Thinking about getting in STL GLD‘s way? You should probably reconsider, unless you relish the idea of resurrection as a shambling corpse; on their first Booth feature, the Boston-based twosome threaten to kill their foes so hard they come back as Zombies. On this grimy cut, single number four off the duo’s debut full-length, rhymesayer Moe Pope lashes out at his rivals over the menacing synth/sample production of crewmate The Arcitype. If his aggressive rhymes aren’t enough to put the fear of God into sucker emcees, Ruste Juxx and REKS‘s bruising guest 16s will most definitely do the trick. My Monday Morning Music is scheduled to drop via Brick Records on Tuesday, August 12. - DJ Booth

Boston-reared rappers STL GLD will drop a new album, My Monday Morning Music, on August 12th. For this project's latest offering (and fourth single), they rely on Ruste Juxx and fellow bostonian Reks for some shotgun assistance. - 2 Dope Boyz

If you’re familiar with Boston’s hip-hop scene, chances are you’ve heard the names Moe Pope and The Arcitype. They’re two of the most proven, established artists (Moe as an emcee, Arcitype as a producer) out of Massachusetts’ capital, and anytime they’ve gotten together on something, the result has been expectedly magical.

Earlier this year, the two announced they were forming a duo that would be known as STL GLD and released their first single, the extremely well-received “Cocaine.” Earlier today, they delivered a new record with an accompanying visual called “Sunrise,” and with it announced that their My Monday Morning Music album will arrive on August 12th.

“Sunrise” is effortlessly pure. It’s warm, wholesome and truly the best type of Monday morning music you’ll find anywhere – at least if you’re looking to start off your week on the right foot. The smooth-riding instrumental reeks of hope and optimism, and Moe’s slick-tongued rhymes paint a beautiful day-in-the-life portrait of the everyday man (or woman) working to make ends meet while appreciating life’s intricacies along the way. Tea Leigh‘s effervescent vocals on the hook are appropriately themed, reminding listeners that it’s our choice whether or not we acknowledge the “sunrise in our eyes,” the little things that – at any given moment – can mean the world to us.

Watch the video above, and stay tuned for more off STL GLD’s forthcoming album. - The Fresh Heir

Boston-born rapper Moe Pope had help making last album "Let the Right Ones In" -- local rappers, rockers, soul singers, electronica up-and-comers and experimental folk/pop songwriter Lady Lamb the Beekeeper were all in the mix.

Sounds like he's at it again. Teamed with The Arcitype as STL GLD, the duo's second single off upcoming album "My Monday Morning Music" features Brooklyn shoegaze artist Tea Leigh's magic, misty vocals alongside Pope's mellow, magnetic flow. - The Boston Herald

I'm frustrated with lyrical hip hop right now. I feel like we see shimmering lights of sincerity in some of today's major acts, but it's a very definitive, specific, and minuscule "some." I'm not sure if this is because of the economic status of the music industry, seeing that each and every artist has imminently succumbed to the desire for more funds... However, this is no post of negativity, this is an introduction to why I love music: anyone can make it, and make it well.

Today I bring you Boston natives STL GLD (Moe Pope & The Arcitype) who released the official video for their single, "Sunrise" featuring Brooklyn toed artist Tea Leigh. Tea's complement Pope’s "effortless" flow layered above sultry beats by The Arcitype. With this release, they announce the duo's upcoming debut album My Monday Morning Music due August 12 on AR Classic Records/Brick Records. STL GLD's first single, "Cocaine".

My Monday Morning Music (or MMMM) is a derivative of the countless influences that have graced Moe and The Arcitype since the beginning. Be on a close watch, and try to stick to lyrical. - Earmilk

Rqpper Moe Pope teams up with producer The Arcitype as the duo STL GLD. The first single of their collaborative project is titled Cocaine and I must say this goes in. Dope beats, dope rhymes, what more do y’all want.

Tune in and get with the program. - Word Is Bond - written by Teckzilla

If you weren’t already in full and ridiculous anticipation of the upcoming album from Boston MC Moe Pope and producer-instrumentalist The Arcitype, then give this flick about five seconds to marinate …

(VIDEO)

There. Just a few months ago, the distinguished pair – joined on stage with allies Rain and Chris Talkin plus (this week’s Dig cover models) Tigerman WOAH! for a few joints – previewed their collaborative STL GLD material at the anniversary of Arcitype’s Cambridge studio, and floored one and all. We were on our best behavior – even avoided asking for an un-mastered single or some kind of throwaway freestyle or beat to chew on (of course, we already had some sweet “Cocaine” to indulge in). Still, we’ve been salivating, and so it’s nice to finally have this brilliant slice with proper visuals to match.

Featuring Brooklyn’s Tea Leigh on vocals, “Sunrise” finds Moe Pope gliding through a mellow yet distinctive track packed with cinematic reflection. It’s what he does best, and he really finds his stride from front to back here. Considering The Arcitype’s vast production range – in addition to his rugged boom bap side, the kid mangles guitars like Buckethead on bath salts – there’s no telling what the final project will sound like. For those of you who can’t wait, though, here’s a bit from our friends at The Brain Trust …

My Monday Morning Music (or MMMM) takes the listener on a journey of melodies and lyrics derived from the wide range of musical influences Moe Pope and The Arcitype share. From more ambient and introspective moments, to darker, more aggressive content, My Monday Morning Music inspires and evokes an array of emotions throughout the project. The album features guest appearances from a breadth of notable artists spanning many genres, including Dua Boakye (Bad Rabbits), Reks, Ruste Juxx, Jake Mehrmann and Chris Klaxton (Tan Vampires), Dutch Rebelle, John Robinson & more. - The Dig Boston

Mere months after earning Album of the Year at the Boston Music Awards with their politically-charged “Torch Song” (which addresses police brutality and other themes), emcee Moe Pope and producer The Arcitype baked a comparatively confectionary new single, “Donut Shop.” The effortlessly fresh banger boasts old-school flavor and pairs nicely with the hip-hop duo’s grinding B-side “DBL MNT.” Also consider their performance at May’s Boston Calling, and see the proof that, whether speaking truth to power or simply serving tasty sonic treats, everything GLD glitters. - Improper Bostonian

CAMBRIDGE — In its own way, Trump’s America has been good for STL GLD.

Call it a target-rich environment for the Boston hip-hop group’s frontman, Moe Pope.

With the group’s new album, “The New Normal,” due out Friday, the Roxbury-raised emcee hits his MAGA-country marks. In the world Pope details, the devil exists, as do fake facts. Flint, Mich., is under siege, and Nazis occupy the White House. Feelings of abandonment lead to looking for love in selfies, a narcissism that raises the specter of addiction. And yes, there is impeachment speculation among other unprintable critiques of the president. Pope may have found the record’s raison d’etre early in the second track, “The New Normal Part 1” when he observes, “Life is pretty awful.”

Chock-full of moody, at times haunting, beats, and lyricism that is at its best when it’s acerbic, the 13 tracks do not constitute what you would call a club record for 2019. It’s more of a polemic.

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Pope, seated in a North Cambridge recording studio with the rest of the group earlier this month, insisted that he actively looks for reasons to smile. It can be, he concedes, a struggle some days.

“We’re trying to take the horrible and make some type of enjoyment out of it,” he says. “Because there’s nothing good happening, in my opinion.”

He immediately softens his take — a sliver of optimism, maybe?

“Or not enough good.”

The group, pronounced “Still Gold,” includes Pope, producer Janos “The Arcitype” Fulop, backup vocalist Christopher Talken, and drummer Jonathan Ulman. The band marks the release of the new album Friday with a show at Oberon in Cambridge.

“The New Normal” is their third full-length release. It follows 2017’s “Torch Song,” which received local accolades, including album of the year at the Boston Music Awards. That album found an audience and opened doors for the group.

A small tour of Europe that included stops in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany followed “Torch Song,” as did a spot on a Boston Calling bill, and the group’s largest gig to date, a performance last summer with the Roots in Providence.

“We were discovering what we had the potential to do last time,” says Fulop. “We made this record knowing what we were capable of.”

The political and social backdrop to this album’s creation, he says, was “just really strange.”

“We literally have a reality television president, we’ve gone so far down that wormhole,” he says.

Talken described the record as the sound of “coming to grips” with what is now considered normal. “What do you do next?” he asks. “Do you just sit there and be quiet?”

Like its predecessor, “The New Normal” runs through the thornier parts of the country’s past and present.

For Pope, layers of the American grotesquerie have peeled away in recent years: videos showing police brutality against people of color, #MeToo testaments documenting pervasive sexual misconduct. With the new project, the group is trying to talk about the world as it is, he says.

“I think that a lot of people have had blinders on as to what the world really was anyway,” Pope says. The country is “starting to understand what a person of color has to deal with every time they step out of the house.”

“That gets heavy,” he says.

Pope carries such heaviness throughout “The New Normal.” On “Ashes,” he tries to evoke the feelings of someone who is staring at a burning cross on his lawn. The daily pressures of the rat race surface on “Horrors,” where Pope laments too much division and morals gone missing. The protagonist in “Done” has friends die young, a dad in jail, and pain that is numbed with liquor.

In person, Pope is self-effacing; he is sure to mention that he is a flawed individual. On the album, there is hubris and bluster at times, but also moments of unsparing introspection. In “What They Say,” Pope articulates feelings of frustration, loneliness, never-ending problems, mistakes made, forgiveness sought, and the hope of a better life for his children.

“It’s therapy for sure,” he says.

Later, the man who wrote the lyric “Life is pretty awful” and put it on a title track to his new record is asked if he still holds on to hope.

“It’s tough, man, but tomorrow’s a new day.”

STL GLD - Boston Globe