After teasing us with singles like “Could Be You” and “JCTB,” the prince of Scarborough, Stretch finally releases The Ball Park Tape. The 9-song project is a culmination of sounds that have been in the works for several years, but serves as the debut release for the young Scarborough rapper.
Complete with features from artists like rising Toronto songstress M.I.Blue and the production debut from abstractabel, The Ball Park Tape is Scarborough through and through. It is a project filled with soul and serves as the soundtrack to Stretch’s Scarborough upbringing.
Anyone who knows Stretch, knows where his musical inspirations stem from. The heavy soul samples and live instrumentation from The Ball Park Tape are reminiscent of a young, hungry J. Cole, but Stretch is able to put his own Scarborough flavour on every song, really making it his own.
When asked about how the project came together, Stretch said “The majority of it was written about 4 years ago” and it was based on “life experiences, both first and second hand.” He was hovering around 8-11 songs and then decided to structure it around 9 songs curated like innings at a baseball game. He goes on to say how the project’s title stemmed from his love for baseball which he describes as being more about the storied history behind the sport rather than the traditional love of the game.
He states, “the idea that some of the most legendary, thought provoking athletes not having all their statistics deemed as credible because the leagues were run by gamblers and other forms of organized crime is astounding to me. Like these are my heroes and most of my generation has no clue who they are.”
All in all, The Ball Park Tape is Scarborough through and through. It is a masterful creation of east end creatives ready to bring their diverse flavour and sounds to the world. Make sure you take a listen to the whole project available on all streaming platforms and stay tuned for more releases from Stretch.
Follow Stretch on Twitter @StretchTO.
